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'An admirable novel'- The Times

'In this portrait of men and women swept along by great events, and determined to be on the side of the angels, Fuentes has invested the often colourless world of politics with romantic ardour' - Sunday Telegraph

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An epic and heartbreaking love story that will leave no one untouched.

Like Fuentes's masterpiece The Death of Artemio Cruz, the action in this novel begins in the state of Veracruz and moves to Mexico City. From 1905 to 1978, Fuentes traces the extraordinary Laura Díaz; a life filled with a multitude of witty, heartbreaking scenes and the sounds, colours, tastes and scents of Mexico.

Laura grows into a politically committed artist who is also a wife and mother, a lover of great men, and a complicated and alluring heroine whose bravery prevails despite her losing a brother, son, and grandson to the darkest forces of Mexico's turbulent, often corrupt politics. Hers is a life which has helped to affect the course of history, and it is the story of a woman who has loved and understood with unflinching honesty.

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'Fuentes's affair with the fickle forces of creativity reaches a rare and poignant intensity ... a landmark book' - Scotsman