Ximena at the crossroads

Selected as 1994's Best Novel of the Year in Peru, Riesco's North American debut is an intimate story of a young girl whose growing consciousness of social injustice during the 1940s coincides with the discovery of her own storytelling powers. The frail only child of wealthy parents, Ximena continually seeks to get beyond the parameters of her narrow existence by reading books.

She devours every story she comes across - Indian legends, movie romances, biblical and classical myths - and spies on the grown-ups around her until a strike by Indian workers results in violence, after which Ximena's curiosity leads her into the midst of the revolt.