The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo

A Novel by F. H. Haghenbeck

Atria Books
352 pages
Publication Date: September 25, 2012

There was a little black book amongst Frida’s personal objects discovered in “La Casa Azul,” the blue house where she lived and died. A wedding present from her dear friend, lover, and soul mate Tina Modotti, the Italian photographer and communist who introduced Frida to the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. In this simple notebook, which Frida called “The Hierba Santa Book,” she wrote memories, personal jokes and her favorite recipes for The Day of The Dead, the traditional Mexican celebration to honor their deceased. “It was to be exhibited for the first time in a monumental exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. But the day the exhibition opened to the public, it was discovered that the notebook had vanished.”

F. H. Haghenbeck expertly weaves the most important periods of her life with fiction and Mexican folklore creating a delightful masquerade. Using the political climate of the thirties and forties, starting with the Mexican Revolution as a setting, the narrative encompasses Frida’s childhood, her first love who left her after an accident that nearly killed her, her tormented relationship with Diego Rivera; her artistic awakening and evolution, her overwhelming personality and existential feminism, her travels through the US and Europe and her encounters and romances with remarkable men and women of her time.

In this story the most intense relationship Frida has besides Rivera is with “La Llorona,” death herself, a constant presence always reminding her through pain that she lives on “borrowed time”. When Kahlo dies the first time in a trolley accident, she makes a pact with “La Llorona” to prepare the most exquisite banquets for The Day of The Dead every year, in exchange for going back to life. “But I’m warning you,” says her new godmother, “you will always wish you’d died today. And I will remind you of this every day of your life.”

Her commitment to The Day of The Dead celebration together with Rivera’s great appreciation for Mexican delicacies, are her main inspirations for learning and evolving into an exceptional cook. As an additional treat, the book is filled with fabulous Mexican recipes. Every chapter ends with an excerpt from “The Hierba Santa Book” including a recipe. And at the very end of the book you’ll find a few of them adapted to ingredients easily available in the US. I couldn’t resist trying one; I can vouch for “Lomo al Tequila”, Tequila Pork Loin.

Lomo al Tequila – Tequila Pork Loin

I always enjoyed Frida Kahlo’s work, and thought she had a challenging but extraordinary life. Although I don’t see her as obsessed with Diego Rivera as Haghenbeck depicts her, I enjoyed this book for the fiction it is.

The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo is a reinvention of her life. It’s been fifty-eight years since she died and her work and life still captures our imagination. F. H. Haghenbeck writes an engaging story with a flow that keeps the reader enthralled until the very end.

Tags: F. G. Haghenbeck, Frida Kahlo, Tequila Pork Loin