Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Deeply revealing…Allende’s insight is keen, her prose polished and her language hypnotic…the stories of her close-knit family…move the memoir forward…Her world is by no means without humor mirth and wisdom. This is a book to savor."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"A powerful memoir"

Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Deeply revealing . . . Allende’s insight is keen, her prose polished and her language hypnotic . . . the stories of her close-knit family . . . move the memoir forward . . . This is a book to savor."

Library Journal
"Allende’s trademark magical realism is ever present...This high-spirited, emotionally packed book enables readers to get a closer look at the life of a much-loved writer."

Dallas Morning News
"...Ms.Allende...executes this epistolary memoir with the same authenticity and poetry that grace her fiction...Ms. Allende is a survivor worth reading and emulating."

Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Allende is a genius."

Product Description

In this heartfelt memoir, Isabel Allende reconstructs her own life in the wake of tragic loss—the death of her daughter, Paula. Recalling the past thirteen years from the daily correspondence she shared with her mother in Chile, Allende bares her soul in a book that is as exuberant as its author. She recounts the stories of the wildly eccentric and eclectic tribe she gathers around her that becomes a new kind of family.

Throughout, Allende shares her thoughts on love, motherhood, spirituality, infidelity, addiction, and memory. Here, too, are the amazing stories behind Allende's books, the superstitions that guide her writing process, and her adventurous travels. Ultimately, The Sum of Our Days offers a unique tour of this gifted writer's inner world and the relationships that have become essential to her life and her work.

Narrated with warmth, humor, exceptional candor, and wisdom, The Sum of Our Days is a portrait of a contemporary family, tied together by the love, fierce loyalty, and stubborn determination of a beloved, indomitable matriarch.

About the Author

Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is the author of eight novels, including, most recently, Zorro, Portrait in Sepia, and Daughter of Fortune. She has also written a collection of stories; three memoirs, including My Invented Country and Paula; and a trilogy of children's novels. Her books have been translated into more than twenty-seven languages and have become bestsellers across four continents. In 2004 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Isabel Allende lives in California.