Paula: A Memoir

"Beautiful and heartrending. . . . Memoir, autobiography, epicedium, perhaps even some fiction: they are all here, and they are all quite wonderful."--Los Angeles Times

In this literary classic, New York Times bestselling author Isabel Allende recalls the story of her beloved daughter and her remarkable family's history.

When her daughter, Paula, became gravely ill and fell into a coma, Isabel Allende began to write the story of her family for her unconscious child. Bizarre ancestors are introduced; delightful and bitter childhood memories are shared; amazing anecdotes of youthful years are relived, and the most intimate secrets are quietly passed along. Like Allende's first novel, The House of the Spirits, this powerful memoir exploring grief and loss is infused with the real, the magical, and the spiritual, creating a haunting, sad, and beautiful tale about an unbreakable mother-daughter relationship.

How does a mother cope when her daughter's life hangs in the balance?

• A Mother's Unconditional Love: Written at her daughter's bedside, Allende pours her heart onto the page, creating an intimate testament to a bond that even a coma cannot break.
• An Unforgettable Family Saga: Journey through Allende's past as she introduces bizarre ancestors, relives cherished childhood memories, and shares her family's most intimate secrets.
• Literary Memoir: A powerful work of autobiography that reads like a novel, blending fact with the lyrical style that made The House of the Spirits a worldwide phenomenon.
• A Spiritual Journey: Faced with the unthinkable, Allende explores the borders between life and death, consciousness and the unknown, in a narrative infused with the real, the magical, and the spiritual.