Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is a literary living legend and phenomenon. With 77 million books sold, she is the most-read author in the Spanish language throughout the world, and a blockbuster international bestseller of adult novels. A novelist, feminist and philanthropist, Isabel won worldwide acclaim in 1982 with her first novel, The House of the Spirits. Her work has been translated into over forty-two languages, and received the PEN Center Lifetime Achievement Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She lives in California.