Isabel Allende has news, surprising news, and for the feminist, best-selling Chilean novelist it came out of nowhere. “I find myself at this old age, for the first time in my life, adored by someone. And let me tell you it’s a very weird feeling,” she reflects.
I can sense Isabel’s utter incredulity as she talks more about the lovestruck New York lawyer Roger Cukras, who she met in October 2016 and married in a quiet family ceremony a few months ago. The story of their romance is like something from – well – a novel, albeit not one of Isabel’s. “He heard me on the radio. He was a widower in New York where he’d lived all his life and was driving to Boston to see his son when he heard me. Immediately he emailed my office. He emailed every morning and every evening for five months.”
Roger was determined to meet the woman behind the voice, whose incredible story and passion for human rights had captivated him. He and Isabel started corresponding by email for several months. “Finally when I went to New York I said, okay, I’ll meet the guy,” says Isabel.
In 2015 Isabel’s 27-year marriage to attorney Willie Gordon ended. Isabel had emigrated to the United States in 1989 to marry Willie but ultimately their love was smothered by loss – Isabel’s daughter and Willie’s two sons died – and sadness. Isabel fully expected that romance was behind her, but this date with a stranger proved otherwise.
“We met and over dinner I said, ‘Look, what are your intentions, because really I don’t have any time to waste’.” Isabel is laughing now. “The poor guy almost choked on the ravioli but he didn’t run off, he persisted.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2020 من Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2020 من Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
PRETTY WOMAN
Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
The unseen Rovals
Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.
Great read
In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.
Winter dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.