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THE DEATHS OF DON BERNARDO. 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. |
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