The House of the Spirits

by Isabel Allende

He did not know that she had seen her own destiny, that she had summoned him with the power of her thought, and that she had already made up her mind to marry without love.

To me the most interesting character in the book is Clara del Valle, because she was inspired by my grandmother Isabel, who dedicated her short life to study paranormal phenomena. She had some talent to predict the future. Once a week she met with three lovely witches to invoke the spirits of the dead around a heavy Spanish carved oak table. According to the legend, the table would jump twice for yes and once for no when the spirits answered the ladies’ questions. I grew up with the idea that the world is a very mysterious place and there are many dimensions of reality. The fact that something cannot be explained of proved doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, according to my grandmother. So when I am accused of having used too much magic realism in The House of the Spirits, all I can say in my defense is that’s not a literary device, it’s the way I perceive life and the world. By the way, I have the Spanish table in my house. It has never moved on its own volition.