Mujica, Barbara. 1990 335 pgs. (pbk) ISBN: 0915745186 Ser.: La Mujer Latina . Includes glossaries of Spanish and Indian terms. $23.95 Price for class use $19.95
Peru 1917. The War of the Pacific has
forced thousands of Indians out of their villages and into the
cities. A pro-Indian movement is on the rise. Anti-American
sentiment is rampant among leftist factions, but Peru's
commercial elite sees the U.S. as a model to emulate. The most
daring of Peru's new breed of businessmen, Bernardo de Alvarez is
the owner of vast sugar and cotton plantations. Handsome,
charming, cunning and ruthless, he courts the Yankee markets with
the same flair as he pursues beautiful women. On the day he cuts
a lucrative deal with a large American textile company, Don
Bernardo is on top of the world. But on the same day, he murders
a man and contracts a demon, in the form of an exquisite Indian
girl, Azucena, whose weapons are as lethal as his own. Everywhere
that Alvarez treads the same principles reign; manipulate or be
manipulated, eat or be eaten. But in the end, the only power game
that really matters to Don Bernardo is his struggle with the
demon. Don Bernardo's implacable fate engulfs the members of his
household; Julio, Don Bernardo's vengeful Indian nemesis; and
Azucena, the wily apprentice cook who wields expertly the only
tools available to a female domestic--her wits and her body.
Based on a true incident, The Deaths of Don
Bernardo tells a compelling story that is
told with elegance of style, deep knowledge of human nature,
entertaining realism, and most of all provides a highly
intelligent literary view of Latin culture and society at the
turn of the century.