#MondayMotivation ‘Happy International Women’s Day 2021’ Isabel Allende ‘Soul of a Woman’ #MondayBlogs #IWD2021

For the women I love,

And the women I have loved and will love,

For my mother, who fought to be free,

For my sister who died

Before freedom was grasped,

For my friends, whose love I crave,

For my colleagues, whose support I need,

For readers who devour our adventures,

For writers who spread their stories,

For my daughters who were born free,

For my granddaughter, who must remember

To share our journeys,

And for everyone who is lucky enough

to have a woman in their lives,

Happy Day and Happy Life,

I’m proud of you all.

****

Today I’m sharing a very special book, by a very special writer. Soul of a Woman by one of my favourite writers, the fabulous Isabel Allende.

From the Blurb

When I say that I was a feminist in kindergarten, I am not exaggerating,” begins Isabel Allende. As a child, she watched her mother, abandoned by her husband, provide for her three small children without “resources or voice.” Isabel became a fierce and defiant little girl, determined to fight for the life her mother couldn’t have.

As a young woman coming of age in the late 1960s, she rode the second wave of feminism. Among a tribe of like-minded female journalists, Allende for the first time felt comfortable in her own skin, as they wrote “with a knife between our teeth” about women’s issues. She has seen what the movement has accomplished in the course of her lifetime. And over the course of three passionate marriages, she has learned how to grow as a woman while having a partner, when to step away, and the rewards of embracing one’s sexuality.

I listened to The Soul of A woman on Audible. It is a short but intense memoir of her feminist journey and includes topics that would interest women of any age, such as womanhood, feminism, parenting, and she also discusses aging and love.

This wonderful little book is full of real-life experiences, knowledge and insight of one of the most fascinating contemporary authors writing in Spanish, although she speaks perfect English and all her novels have been translated into English.

Isabel Allende reminds us that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers paved the way for us, and there is still is a lot to be done, all over the world, but young women today, especially in countries which enjoy greater social freedom must be reminded of what previous generations have done and are still doing to further equality.

I like her inclusive idea of Feminism, which is not against men who are also victims of patriarchy, but in favour of women and our struggle to be seen and heard.

Listen to Isabel speaking about the Soul of a Woman.

Take care and stay safe.

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