No, this blog isn’t about Isabel and Willie’s newest dog, little Dulce. It’s about Isabel’s opera! Well, sort of…

The opera, which is being co-presented by The Broad Stage and the L.A. Opera at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center May 17–June 9, is based on Isabel’s short story, “An Act of Vengeance.” Set in a South American country in the 1950s, “An Act of Vengeance” is a tale of romance, ruin, revenge and redemption. It concerns a woman named Dulce who is raped by the man who kills her father. She spends her life plotting revenge for the murder, only to fall in love with the man, thereby betraying her promise to avenge her father’s death. To silence her father’s ghost, Dulce kills herself, leaving the villain to live out his life with his regrets and the vision of her bloodied body.

I realize I’ve just given away the story…BUT let me just say that this is the nutshell version, and would make a great opera in and of itself! I left out many fabulous bits like the bodies of the senators hanging from the trees and the bloody fountain, so you can see that the story is still worth a read.

By the way—and this is big—Placido Domingo will conduct the world premiere of the opera based on Isabel’s story. Placido Domingo! I know. Very cool. You can find out more here. Look for tickets here.

Of course, this is all a preface to the real point of this blog: What will Isabel wear to the opera? Well, it’s been a long road but I think we can safely say a decision has been made! Phew!

I have received a plethora of Maya’s Notebook tour tidbits from Isabel and Lori. It’s almost as good as being there myself. Well, maybe not…

My favorites so far come from Chicago.

Isabel writes:

We had beautiful weather in Chicago, if you can believe it. It seemed that the whole city was planted with tulips, all the trees blossoming, crowds of tourists, kids, lovers roaming the streets, musicians in every corner… Art everywhere! The Cloud Gate, or the Bean, as they call it, is the most gorgeous sculpture I have ever seen, after the statue of David by Michelangelo. Fell in love with this city. Sunday was our day off, so Lori and I strolled the parks, shopped and even had time for a manicure.

I talked about Maya’s Notebook at the Unity Temple in Chicago, an amazing building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. At the time it was built, the architectural style was Victorian, so the building must have seemed shocking. The audience was very kind and I felt inspired by the beauty of the place. We had three free hours around noon, so we could rest, get fresh air, eat a delicious meal and gossip. We felt recharged and happy. Chicago is truly a wonderful and friendly city.

Lori writes:

Isabel touring around Chicago on her first day off. She loved Millennium park and Cloud Gate! What a gorgeous city. Isabel really enjoyed herself. Here are some pics from the event at Unity Temple in Chicago. It is an amazing Frank Lloyd Wright building. Hard to capture on my iPhone but I think you get an idea.

Nashville—Parnassus Books and Nashville Public Library event

Lori writes:

The mayor, who introduced Isabel, is a great reader; he clearly cares about education and literacy.  Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto and other wonderful novels, and one of my most favorite writers, owns Parnassus Books and came to see Isabel beforehand. There were also a lot of Chilean fans, hence the flag! Such a fun night!

New York

Lori writes:

A picture of Isabel with our beloved Jane Beirn, who has been Isabel’s publicist at Harper Collins for twenty years. She takes care of us like a mother when we are on tour.

Dallas—Texas Library Association Event

Lori writes:

A book jacket made of caramel and solid chocolate awaited Isabel on her pillow at the Four Seasons. A lovely surprise! And Isabel loved seeing Virginia Stanley from Harper Collins, an absolutely adorable being she met years ago in Seattle, when that city chose Daughter of Fortune as “the book that all Seattle reads.”

Seattle

Lori writes:

TV show with the famous Nancy Pearl, librarian extraordinaire.  Best part: Isabel and Nancy are the same height and both were wearing Eileen Fischer from head to toe!

Washington, DC

Lori writes:

Isabel’s good friend Don George interviewed her onstage at the beautiful National Geographic building. The audience could tell that they just love each other. They were having such a good time joking and flirting with each other that at times they forgot that they were being filmed and recorded.

Fitzgerald Theater in Minneapolis, MN

Lori writes:

An over the top amazing event. 1,000 people. Laughter. Tears. Love. It was all thee. Kerri Miller was a wonderful interviewer. Sooooo great.

If you haven’t picked up Maya’s Notebook yet maybe these book trailers will inspire you.

Amazing videos made by San Jose State University animation students as part of their final project this semester.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Video 4

Video 5

Video 6

Animation/Illustration BFA graduating class 2013

Now that the Maya’s Notebook American tour is underway (finally!), here is an update from the road:

Isabel was very sick during this Democracy Now interview and had to use the mute button repeatedly to cover up her coughing. Here is a picture of her now, after a round of antibiotics, and you can see that she is feeling much better:

Lori tells me that she and Isabel have done a lot of reading on trains and planes. Here is a list of their favorites so far:

I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali, Delphine Minoui and Linda Coverdale

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Short story collection by Nathan Englander

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Short story collection by Nathan Englander

A History of the Present Illness by Louise Aronson

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

My Foreign Cities: A Memoir by Elizabeth Scarboro

And, finally, three issues of The Sun magazine, which were devoured from cover to cover!

Isabel and Lori are leaving soon on the Maya’s Notebook U.S. book tour. It’s going to be a long tour and I keep trying to get them to take me along. After all, how can they possibly manage without me? They have promised to send me photos from every city and from all the readings so I can post them to the blog. It would, of course, be easier to just take me with them…

Actually, I really don’t think I could keep up. Isabel has been doing dozens of interviews these last few weeks and it’s once again clear she has more energy than a ferret on Cocoa Puffs. I once was “in charge” of Isabel in Manhattan for a day and it was like I had a toddler again—she’s constantly running off to look at shiny things in shopfronts three blocks away. Yeah…I am tired just thinking about a book tour, a different city every day, airplane after airplane and all that messing about with tickets and taxis. Okay, fine! (This is me trying to talk myself out of how much fun it would be to go.)

By the way, if you want to see the tour dates, check out our calendar on Isabel’s website, some events are sold out. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area on April 23, please join us all for the official English-language launch of Maya’s Notebook in San Rafael. The reading and discussion of the novel (a Book Passage bookstore event; tickets are available here) begins at 7pm at Dominican University’s Angelico Hall. It is going to be great. Isabel will cast a spell on you and you will walk away not only with her latest novel but also with that good feeling you get when you support a small bookseller—in this case Book Passage, Isabel’s favorite local bookstore!

Eve Ensler, Elizabeth Lesser, and Isabel Allende at Omega • October 2012

Isabel has not written a book blurb in years because she gets so many requests that she couldn’t possibly give each book the attention it deserves. However, she had to make an exception for Eve Ensler’s new memoir In The Body of the World, because, she said, it moved her to her very bones.

As you may recall, Ensler is the author of the episodic play The Vagina Monologues and the founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. In this memoir Ensler incarnates the pain of the women in Congo, victims of rape and torture, and of the Earth, also a victim of so much desecration. She writes as though her heart and body are broken, but her anger is like fire, and the passion of her writing rattles your soul. This is true literature and true activism. Don’t miss this book!

It’s almost here…The release of Maya’s Notebook in English! We are all very excited, especially now that the reviews are rolling in. Here is one from Amazon and one from Flavorwire, and this Sunday you can read a Q&A with Isabel in the “By the Book” section of the New York Times Book Review. You can see Isabel’s book tour schedule here.

The book’s English-language release launches April 23 at 7pm with a Book Passage event here in Marin at Dominican University’s Angelico Hall, where Isabel will read from and then talk about her latest novel. We are all going to be there and would love to see a bunch of friends. Tickets are on sale now—here—and include a hardcover copy of the book. Isabel will be signing books after the event, so please stick around!

Thank you all for the kind words sent to Isabel, Willie and the rest of the family. Harleigh’s memorial was very moving and sincere. He was a complicated young man, and will be greatly missed.

Thank you as well to the Marin Art and Garden Center, Main St. Floragardens, WIGT Printing, Marin FilmWorks, the caterers at Insalata’s Restaurant, bagpiper Fred Payne and guitarist Larry Levy for working so quickly to create such a beautiful event on Saturday. It was a sad and beautiful occasion.

The first time I met Charles Harleigh Gordon, maybe ten years ago, I was trying to pull the mail out of the mailbox at our office here in Sausalito. It was crammed full of mail and I was trying not to damage any of the packages. I heard a loud hacking sound directly behind me and turned to see a man clearing his throat and spitting on the tile patio.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” I yelled. “Why would you spit on our patio?!”

Harleigh looked up at me with his wounded look—if you knew him you know exactly the look—and introduced himself. “I’m Harleigh, Willie’s son.”

“Ohhhhhhh,” I said. “Okay, I’m sorry. By all means, spit away!”

He thought that was funny but I was mortified. I had heard of this boy–this legendary bad boy—and here he was standing in front of me in a leather jacket. Wow! Harleigh in the flesh!

Harleigh died over the weekend. We’ve all been pretty hard hit. It’s especially hard to see Willie so heartbroken. I love how much Willie loved him. I don’t often get a chance to see the dewy side of Willie; I usually see the gruff, barking, tough-guy act that so often has me rushing to make sure the lights are turned out and the printers powered down so he doesn’t worry about the electric bill. (I am actually being serious; the man HATES to waste electricity!)

But now Harleigh’s gone. I have this picture up at the office of  us at a party over the summer. It was a “party of gratitude,” a party to celebrate Isabel and Willie—their birthdays and their marriage. Harleigh showed up and stole the show. I remember he wore this long black duster coat, like an outlaw in a Western. That’s how I will always remember him. That last summer party and the light on the bridges and the whole tribe gathered, like a happy song.

Everyone roots for the underdog—for the bad boy. I always bet on the dark horse. Harleigh was a dark horse, and I have to say I was completely charmed by him.

Charles Harleigh Gordon

August 4, 1977 ­– March 16, 2013

We have this idea that it would be fun to see journals and notebooks from around the world. If you keep a notebook, like Maya does in Maya’s Notebook, take a photo of the cover—or maybe of an entry, or even both—and post it to your Twitter, Tumblr or Instagram with the hashtag #mayasnotebook. We would love to see your photos and this is a way to share them with other Maya’s Notebook readers.

Here is a note from Isabel about journals in general, and your journal in particular (in case you need a little more prodding to post a picture):

You know what? In my most recent novel, which will be published in English in April, a journal is such an important character that it lends its name to the title: Maya’s Notebook. 

Before we went crazy with email, texting, Facebook, Twitter and all of that, people wrote letters and kept journals to records events and preserve memories, to give themselves time to reflect, to unravel the confusion of everyday life, or just simply for the fun of it. The best journals are honest, raw, and passionate, and can include all sorts of little mementos: dry flowers, poems, pictures, drawings, you name it! Some are eternally moving, like Anne Frank’s; some are spectacular, like The Red Book by Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist; some are embarrassing, like the one I had when I was nine. I still have it but I have never showed it to anyone, not even Willie.

Our journals are our confidants, our best friends. If you don’t have a notebook, like Maya Vidal does in my novel, start one right now. You can pour your soul into those pages, and write all your dreams, wishes, experiences, sorrows and joys. It may seem silly right now but you can’t even imagine how valuable it will be for you in the future, when you go back to it and realize who you were and what was happening in your life years before. That’s actually why I never look at my past journals: all I could ever write was fiction, which means I exaggerated and lied. What an unbearable arrogant brat I was! (But I have changed. Now I am an unbearable, arrogant crone)

Are you ready to share some aspect of your journal? We would love to see it posted. Please upload a photo of your journal—either the cover or an excerpt (if you’re feeling brave!), or both—to Twitter, Tumblr or Instagram with the hashtag #mayasnotebook. (Can you believe I even know what Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram are, much less a hashtag? I’m being dragged into the 21^st century by Nico, Sarah and Lori whether I like it or not!) 

I’m looking forward to seeing all your pictures.

-Isabel