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The 67-year-old author originally considered setting the novel
in New Orleans, but her research took her to Haiti.
``I noticed that the French flavor of New Orleans, the cooking,
the voodoo, a lot of the customs come from 10,000 refugees who
fled Haiti during the slave revolution at the end of the 1700s
and the beginning of the 1800s ... and many of them came to
Louisiana,'' she says during a recent interview.
``So I began investigating the circumstances that forced them to
leave and that's how I got into the Haitian Revolution, which is
fascinating.''
The book, which debuted in Spanish last year and just came out
in English in the United States, follows Zarite Sedella, a slave
in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) at the end of the 18th century who had
the good fortune to avoid working on sugar plantations or in the
mills, because she was always a domestic slave.
Although ``Island Beneath the Sea'' takes place 200 years ago,
Allende says, ``the theme of slavery is one that is horribly
alive today.''
``There are 27 million slaves in the world today ... and we're
not just talking about girls who work in Cambodian bordellos,
but people who are in indentured servitude, sometimes for
generations; entire villages that work in agriculture, in the
fishing industry, logging and all sorts of sweatshops,'' she
says.
``When there's so much poverty, when there's so much abuse, I
think it's important to say it as much as possible _ to make
awareness about this,'' Allende says. She added that 300,000
children in Haiti are domestic slaves who are given away by
their parents who are too poor to take care of them.
Allende is one of the best-known contemporary women authors in
Latin America, who sometimes writes based on her own
experiences, weaving together myth and realism. Her books, which
have been translated into more than 27 languages, shift between
autobiographical and historical and are usually focused on
women.
Her latest book has been a best seller in many Latin American
countries and is already a best seller on Amazon.com.
Terry Karten, Allende's editor at Harper Collins, said the book
continues to sell well in hardback and e-book.
``We expect the novel to be a favorite choice for summer reading
and book groups as well,'' she said in an e-mail to The
Associated Press.
The book's research took about four years and writing another
year.
``When I begin writing I have the place and time well
researched. I have all the documentation about what happened
during that moment in that place and nothing more,'' she says of
her creative process.
``It took me maybe two years to gather the primary materials,
but I wasn't able to write the book because I didn't have Zarite,
I didn't have her voice _ the story was very rough,'' she says.
But one day, she dreamed about the character. ``Or she appeared
to me when I was meditating, but I saw her fully. And when I had
Zarite's personality, with her body, her long neck, her elegant
hands, her voice, I was able to write the book easily.''
Zarite, as with many of the women to whom Allende has given life
on the page, is full of strength, sensuality and heroism.
``I don't invent women. I've worked all my life with women and
for women. I know them well and if you ask me where are there
weak women, I wouldn't know, because the majority of them have
had difficult lives and are for the most part very strong,''
said the author of ``Eva Luna,'' ``Of Love and Shadows'' and
``Ines of My Soul,'' who was born in Peru and raised in Chile
and now lives in California (she became an American citizen a
few years ago).
Allende, who has endured personal tragedy _ she shared the loss
of her daughter in her memoir ``Paula'' _ says she is grateful
for the life she's led.
``I think very few people pass through life without suffering.
And my suffering is no different from that of others and it's
not greater,'' she says. ``I celebrate each day.'' |
