A writer born in Peru to Chilean parents but based in the USA since 1989. She has been called the world's most widely read Spanish-language author and is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits (1982) and City of the Beasts (2002), which have been commercially successful. Her works sometimes contain aspects of the 'magic realist' tradition, and are often based upon her personal experience, paying homage to the lives of women, while weaving together elements of myth and realism.