{"id":111,"date":"2012-08-19T20:51:22","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T02:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/?p=111"},"modified":"2016-11-20T23:14:54","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T05:14:54","slug":"the-secret-book-of-frida-kahlo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/2012\/08\/19\/the-secret-book-of-frida-kahlo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Novel by\u00a0F. H. Haghenbeck<\/p>\n

Atria Books
\n352 pages
\nPublication Date: September 25, 2012<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"There was a little black book amongst Frida\u2019s personal objects discovered in \u201cLa Casa Azul,\u201d 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 \u201cThe Hierba Santa Book,\u201d she wrote memories, personal jokes and her favorite recipes for The Day of The Dead, the traditional Mexican celebration to honor their deceased. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

In this story the most intense relationship Frida has besides Rivera is with \u201cLa Llorona,\u201d death herself, a constant presence always reminding her through pain that she lives on \u201cborrowed time\u201d. When Kahlo dies the first time in a trolley accident, she makes a pact with \u201cLa Llorona\u201d to prepare the most exquisite banquets for The Day of The Dead every year, in exchange for going back to life. \u201cBut I\u2019m warning you,\u201d says her new godmother, \u201cyou will always wish you\u2019d died today. And I will remind you of this every day of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her commitment to The Day of The Dead celebration together with Rivera\u2019s 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 \u201cThe Hierba Santa Book\u201d including a recipe. And at the very end of the book you\u2019ll find a few of them adapted to ingredients easily available in the US. I couldn\u2019t resist trying one; I can vouch for \u201cLomo al Tequila\u201d, Tequila Pork Loin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lomo al Tequila – Tequila Pork Loin<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo is a reinvention of her life. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Novel by\u00a0F. H. Haghenbeck Atria Books 352 pages Publication Date: September 25, 2012 There was a little black book amongst Frida\u2019s personal objects discovered in \u201cLa Casa Azul,\u201d 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,46],"tags":[32,31,33],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-2","category-historical","tag-f-g-haghenbeck","tag-frida-kahlo","tag-tequila-pork-loin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":536,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions\/536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrigomes.com\/literaryexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}