Author Description

A grieving American woman takes a trip into the far reaches of the Amazon Basin and experiences a mystical resolution. Paralyzed by a stroke, a Peruvian man reviews the arc of his life. Two women in 1980s Lima, caught in the vortex of the city and culture, dream of escape to the United States. In earthy and high-spirited ways, Central Texas characters struggle against the destruction of their land. A Hispanic woman teaches her husband a lesson. A black man from the backwoods of East Texas breaks through racism to become a corporate lawyer in New York City, only to be confronted with the sexism that destroys his marriage. A woman in retirement looks back at stories she wrote as a graduate student at the University of Texas, marveling at how the world has changed-or maybe not. From the jungles of the Amazon to New York City, from sprawling Lima besieged by terrorist groups to a Texas country store, these stories cover a diverse range of characters and locales, where the land and the culture shape lives and choices.