Maya's Notebook

‘Isabel Allende enchants in Maya’s Notebook’ Vanity Fair

Living on Chiloé, a beautiful remote island off the coast of Chile, might sound like paradise. For nineteen-year-old Maya, it’s the only way she can stay alive.

Abandoned by her parents as a baby and raised by her grandparents in California, Maya was always a troubled child. But when her beloved grandfather dies, she spirals and runs away to Las Vegas. When she’s sucked into the city’s drug trade, she is almost lost forever. Found by her grandmother, Maya is sent to Chiloé with two requests: to not contact anyone she once knew, and to reflect on where everything had gone wrong.

Bored by the island’s monotony, Maya begins to write down her story; but in Chiloé there are more remnants of her own history than she anticipated. What secrets does the island hold? And can she ever move on from the pain of her past?