One of Mexicoâs most celebrated new novelists, F. G. Haghenbeck offers a beautifully written reimagining of Frida Kahloâs fascinating life and loves.
When several notebooks were recently discovered among Frida Kahloâs belongings at her home in CoyoacĂĄn, Mexico City, acclaimed Mexican novelist F. G. Haghenbeck was inspired to write this beautifully wrought fictional account of her life. Haghenbeck imagines that, after Frida nearly died when a streetcarâs iron handrail pierced her abdomen during a traffic accident, she received one of the notebooks as a gift from her lover Tina Modotti. Frida called the notebook âThe Hierba Santa Bookâ (The Sacred Herbs Book) and filled it with memories, ideas, and recipes.
Haghenbeck takes readers on a magical ride through Fridaâs passionate life: her long and tumultuous relationship with Diego Rivera, the development of her art, her complex personality, her hunger for experience, and her ardent feminism. This stunning narrative also details her remarkable relationships with Georgia OâKeeffe, Leon Trotsky, Nelson Rockefeller, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Henry Miller, and Salvador DalĂ. Combining rich, luscious prose with recipes from âThe Hierba Santa Book,â Haghenbeck tells the extraordinary story of a woman whose life was as stunning a creation as her art.