Isabel Allende

Allende has published her first work of non-fiction, Paula. It's about her 28 year old daughter, who fell into an irreversible coma. Paula began as a letter to her dying daughter and turned into an autobiographical work about Allende's childhood in Chile, her exile in Venezuela and her move to San Francisco.

Allende is one of the few women in the male-dominated literary world of Latin American. She's the niece of Chile's ousted President Salvador Allende, who was pushed out during a 1973 coup and assassinated. Isabel fled to Venezuela. She later moved to the U.S. after falling in love with an American, and now lives in California. Her new book, "The Infinite Plan," is her first about the United States.

The exiled Chilean writer believes that her stories keep the memories of her family alive. Her new book is called Of Love and Shadows.