LOVING THE FIRE

Santana explores the aftermath of her choice to leave her superstar musician spouse in this memoir.

Raised by a noted blues artist father and a strong working mother, the author met and married rock star Carlos Santana in her early 20s, embarking on a heady life that eventually included world travel and meetings with luminaries like Nelson Mandela. But after 34 years of a union regularly beset by her husband’s infidelities, she had had enough. “I had pruned my life branches too short for me to blossom,” she writes. “[I] admitted to myself that Carlos and I were broken and most likely could not be repaired.” Identifying the sources of her determination to grow and change, she opens this book with stories of her parents, grandparents, and ancestors, who taught her to believe in herself. If some of the following chapters read like rambling accounts of privilege, this material serves as an effective contrast to the author’s later endeavors, like starting the Do a Little Foundation, which supports the Daraja Girls Academy in Kenya, and her important work as a founding board member of the National Museum of African-American History. Santana doesn’t assign blame to outside sources for her missteps and setbacks, and she takes responsibility for her successes as well: “I had chosen myself: education, dialogue, sweetness, and self-love. It was all I wanted,” she writes when reflecting on her decision to pursue her undergraduate and master’s degrees. The author credits a long-standing meditation practice, along with habits of reading, hiking, and fostering community, as the supports for her ability to remain open to love (she had a second, brief marriage to actor Carl Lumbly from 2015-2019), grow as a writer, and guide her family. While her famous surname will always open doors, the author clearly cares less about glitter and much more about grit, and her memoir will inspire readers to look closely at their own lives and purpose.

In this chronicle of personal reinvention, the author’s strength, humility and radiance shine brightly.