The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo: A Novel

One of Mexicos most celebrated new novelists, F. G. Haghenbeck offers a beautifully written reimaginingof Frida Kahlos fascinating life and loves.

When several notebooks were recently discovered among Frida Kahlos belongings at her home in Coyoacn, 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 streetcars 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 The Hierba Santa Book (The Sacred Herbs Book) and filled it with memories, ideas, and recipes.

Haghenbeck takes readers on a magical ride through Fridas 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 OKeeffe, Leon Trotsky, Nelson Rockefeller, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Henry Miller, and Salvador Dal. Combining rich, luscious prose with recipes from The Hierba Santa Book, Haghenbeck tells the extraordinary story of a woman whose life was as stunning a creation as her art.