Laura Restrepo

Un hombre regresa a casa después de un corto viaje de negocios y encuentra que su esposa ha enloquecido completamente. No tiene idea de qué le ha podido ocurrir durante los tres días de su ausencia, y con el fin de ayudarla a salir de la crisis empieza a investigar, sólo para descubrir lo poco que sabe sobre las profundas perturbaciones escondidas en el pasado de la mujer que ama. Narrada con talento y emoción, la historia principal de esta novela...

"A girl's body is found floating in the water in what seems to be a ritual. At the heart of this episode is the superficial world of some rich, successful young men who have an evil lifelong bond and are a world apart from the victim: poor, and a survivor of the violence of her homeland." --

From the Publisher: In 1908, under orders to defend a tiny, isolated Pacific atoll from an improbable French invasion, Mexican captain Ramon Arnaud, his young bride, Alicia, and eleven soldiers and their families set sail for the so-called Isle of Passion. In this dire, forbidding place, a viable community is created under Ramon's guidance and inspired by Alicia's dedication. But they are soon forgotten by a motherland distracted by political upheaval...

"Immune to the consequences of immorality, five privileged young men in Bogotá bond over a shared code: worship drugs and drink, exploit women, and scorn the underclass. As males, they declare the right to freedom of pleasure. As friends, only disloyalty to each other is forbidden. When a little girl from the slums disappears, the limits of a perverse and sacred bond will be tested in ways none of them could have imagined."--Book jacket

"Originally titled Dulce compañía (1995), novel set in Bogotá tells the first-person story of a woman journalist's involvement with the people of a poor barrio and the man they call an angel. Ironic, often humorous details of daily life in Colombia combine with passionate descriptions of madness, religion, and love. Excellent translation by Koch. Short author's biography; no other locating material"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.