The photos here are from my private album and offer a peek into my life. These pictures, particularly the ones of my family, are precious to me. My relatives have always been very important in my life and my work, and I have written extensively about them in my two memoirs, Paula and The Sum of Our Days.

With relatives like mine–some of them are very extravagant–I don't even need to use my imagination. Their stories are like an on-going soap opera, and they provide all the material I need for my novels. Many have been models for characters in my books; my grandparents, for example, became Esteban Trueba and Clara del Valle in The House of the Spirits.