Falling In Love Again

Novelist Isabel Allende has experienced a tumultuous life, from exile to deep personal loss and towering success, but she never thought she’d be marrying again at 77, she tells Juliet Rieden.

- Juliet Rieden

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.