I always imagined the art of writing romantically, ink-stained fingertips and crumpled piles of paper about my feet. In reality, my writing life is spent chasing a blinking cursor back and forth across my computer screen. Each sequence of letters punched out on my keyboard an open call for carpal tunnel syndrom. Routinely, I haggle with my printer to release pages free from streaks of lapsed ink.

However, I imagine Isabelle Allende to be a writer`s writer in the rudimentary sense of the word. A writer able to inspire even the most despairing would be scribe to rediscover the power of words. And too, she is a reader`s writer, able to dispel all distraction until her storytelling is done.

The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende is like getting caught up in a love affair. A collection of over twenty short stories, each tale unabashedly vies for the reader`s attention like the glittering gifts of competing suitors. Crafted around the pretence of a lover`s request, The Stories of Eva Luna, again focuses attention on the life of the title character Allende first introduced in her 19xx novel, Eva Luna.

The first story Two Words is almost galling in its simplicity because it is so deeply satisfying without giving away anything extra. It is the story of a young girl who makes a living with words. A griot of sorts, whose talents as a bearer of news and wordsmith becomes indispensable, attracts the attention of a crude and politically ambitious man. Walimai is the story of a hunter, born to a tribe of people indigenous to the rain forests and his excursions beyond the realm of that existence. The Proper Respect relays the often desperate measures a ruthless married couple take in their efforts to climb the social ladder. Never straying from themes of intimacy, dignity, passion and love (in all its many faceted forms), the stories that Eva Luna creates to sate her lover will have a similar desired effect on the reader. For ultimately they are designed for your pleasure.

Allende makes reference to Scheherazade of A Thousand and One Nights fame. Allende herself is the modern embodiment of that long ago character brought to life.