Isabel Allende has written 25 books that have sold 75 million copies, and been translated into 42 languages. She is the world’s most-read Spanish-language author, the scribe of classics including “The House of the Spirits” and “Eva Luna.” Allende has made a career of telling stories, and now her own will be portrayed in the miniseries “Isabel.” A trailer for the three-part HBO Max project has arrived.
“Isabel” traces the titular character’s (Daniela RamÃrez) ascent in the literary world, and her personal and political struggles. The show also depicts the tragic death of her daughter, which Allende wrote about in her memoir “Paula.”
“Viewers will witness the passion and risks taken by a woman who is willing to break all socially accepted standards of her time to pursue happiness,” according to “Isabel’s” press release. “Isabel must leave her native Chile due to political conflicts, abandoning everything for love and immersing herself into literature to heal her wounds. The pain may have bent her, but it never breaks her.”
“Each book I wrote reflects a chaotic, contradictory time in my life,” Isabel says in the trailer. “Attempts at sorting out the confusion.”
Although Allende is now an international bestseller, the spot hints that her career had a rocky start. “They are going to raise the bar because you are a woman,” Isabel is told. “You’ll have to work twice as hard as a man in order to obtain half the prestige.”
Allende has received the National Prize for Literature and Presidential Medal of Freedom. “The House of the Spirits” was adapted into a feature film in 1993. Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, and Winona Ryder are among its ensemble cast.
“Isabel” premieres March 12.
