The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir

“An inspiring and thought-provoking work.”—Denver Post

The sequel to Isabel Allende’s beloved bestselling Paula—a loving portrait of a makeshift extended family whose beating heart is its remarkable matriarch—a strong, stubborn, fiercely loyal, and loving woman—who must carry on after an unbearable loss.

In this powerful memoir, Isabel Allende reconstructs the painful reality of her life after the death of her daughter, Paula. But The Sum of Our Days is not a tragedy; narrated with warmth, humor, exceptional candor, and wisdom, it is a remarkable story of life that is as exuberant and passionate as Allende herself. Baring her soul, Allende reflects on love, marriage, motherhood, spirituality and religion, infidelity, addiction, and memory—and tells poignant stories of the wildly eccentric and eclectic tribe who become a new kind of family.

What does it take for a family to heal after the unthinkable?

• A Mother’s Grief: A candid look at the years following the death of her daughter, Paula, as Allende navigates sorrow not with tragedy, but with passion, warmth, and life.
• An Unconventional Tribe: Meet the eccentric and eclectic family that forms around her, a chaotic circle of stepchildren, grandchildren, and friends who redefine what it means to belong.
• Dealing with Addiction: An honest and heart-wrenching account of her stepdaughter Jennifer’s battle with addiction, and the search for hope in the midst of a family crisis.
• Spirituality, Humor, and Hope: Discover how Allende finds light in the darkest of times through reflections on motherhood, marriage, memory, and a touch of everyday magic.

“Allende is a genius.” - Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Surely one of the most graceful and yet haunting writers alive.” - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Allende projects a women’s point of view with confidence, control, and an expansive definition of romance as a fact of life.” - Time magazine

“A vibrant voice, which is at once introspective and forthright…an inspiring and thought-provoking work…The insights resonate, on page after page.” - Denver Post

“THE SUM OF OUR DAYS is terrific. It’s funny, insightful, moving and filled with Allende’s unique voice.” - USA Today

“Allende’s THE SUM OF OUR DAYS adds up to an exuberant love letter—not only to her daughter, but to her tribe and anyone lucky enough to belong to one.” - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Allende’s trademark magical realism is ever present...This high-spirited, emotionally packed book enables readers to get a closer look at the life of a much-loved writer.” - Library Journal

“A powerful memoir” - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“...Ms.Allende...executes this epistolary memoir with the same authenticity and poetry that grace her fiction...Ms. Allende is a survivor worth reading and emulating.” - Dallas Morning News

“A warm meditation on family and love…A book to be savored and reread.” - Kirkus Reviews

“A deeply revealing memoir . . . Allende’s insight is keen, her prose polished and her language hypnotic . . . This is a book to savor.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)