Ellen Alexander Conley has transformed

her own experiences in Haiti into a wry and

moving tale set in South America.

Liat Bloom, wife, mother, and physician,

living in New York City, suddenly is struck by

the lack of meaning in her life. Feeling the best

part of herself going to waste, she goes on

strike, withdrawing from her family until she

reaches a decision to go, for a few months, to

her old Peace Corps station at Schweitzerville,

a clinic in the high bush country of Colombia.

Liat finds a land where poverty, hunger, and

revolution have hundreds of human faces, and

she is driven to interrelate deeply with a

complex array of characters. We meet the

charismatic Dr. Marquis de Botero, her

clinic supervisor and soon her lover, a man

profoundly disturbed by the hunger and illness

he sees daily. We follow mysterious Merta,

nurse-midwife and teacher, as she makes her

rounds on horseback among the mountain

villages, teaching Liat revolution by quiet

example. And we watch Buddy, Liat s husband,

as his love and respect exceed the boundaries

of a conventional marriage.

But at the heart of the story is the remark-

able Liat, characterized by serious purpose,

bottomless empathy, and an irrepressible sense

of humor that enlivens every page. This is

a novel of such beauty and power that the

reader will be unable to forget its images

and impact.