The Soul of a Woman is Isabel Allende's feminist reflection on her life, and how it has been shaped by gender, desire, ageing, work and freedom.

Drawing on her childhood in Chile, decades of writing, political exile and family life, Allende moves between personal anecdote and broader questions about patriarchy, autonomy and solidarity. She writes in the conversational, generous style that has long characterised her fiction, using lived experience to think through what independence has meant across different generations of women.

Written in her late seventies, the book has the perspective of someone looking backwards without becoming nostalgic. It sits comfortably alongside the tradition of reflective feminist memoirs by writers such as Vivian Gornick and Siri Hustvedt, while remaining distinctly Allende in its warmth, humour and insistence on storytelling as a political act. A thoughtful introduction to her non-fiction for readers who know her novels, and an engaging standalone work for anyone interested in contemporary feminist writing.

First UK edition, third printing. Bloomsbury, 2021. Hardback in very good condition, with clean pages, sharp binding and only light shelf wear to the dust jacket.