Isabel Allende: One Minute Interview

Where are you now and what can you see?

I am at home and from my window I can see the San Francisco Bay Area on a splendid day, two bridges, redwoods, oak and bay trees, seagulls and sailboats. Not bad, really.

What are you currently reading?

I am a fast reader and right now I am immersed in Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and loving it. I just finished The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Anne Patchett, great read.

Choose a favourite author and say why you admire her/him

I am. I try to write the kind of books I like to read.

Describe the room where you usually write

I have a “casita” in the garden. Two rooms, bookshelves with first editions of my books, photographs, two old ragdolls from my daughter Paula, my desk and computer, also an altar and a closet containing 25 years of my mother’s daily letters and beads. I make necklaces for my unfortunate friends who feel obliged to wear them..

Which fictional character most resembles you?

Zorro

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

Olga Murray, an 86-year-old woman who has saved 11,000 girls from domestic bondage, founded orphanages and is now fighting malnutrition and starvation in Nepal (nepalyouthfoundation.org). I want to be like her when I grow up.

Isabel Allende’s latest novel, ‘Ripper’, is published by Fourth Estate