From Publishers Weekly Winner of the Mobil Pegasus Prize for Literature， this bold novel by Venezuelan writer Torres probes the effects of violence， corrupt politics and class strife on one family over the course of 300 years， from the early 18th century to the present. Torres traces the historical roots of Caracas through the eyes of Do?a In?s Villegas y Solorzano， the aristocratic widow of a wealthy plantation owner who desperately fights to keep the land her family has owned since 1663. Even after her death in 1780， Do?a In?s continues narrating the story in her dogged attempt to keep her land out of the hands of the black and mulatto descendants of her husband and a slave woman. In effect， she becomes Caracas's chronicler as she observers the city metamorphose from sleepy plantation lands to a vibrant， hectic metropolis. Based on a real-life court case that was， incredibly， not resolved until the 1980s， the novel reveals Venezuela's cultural transformations as vividly as any history book might. Unfortunately， its slow pace and monotonous narration do not do justice to the dramatic events depicted. Even after her death， Do?a In?s maintains dictatorial control by revealing other characters only through her eyes. Other characters' dialogue is sparse， appearing as Do?a In?s relates and remembers it， so that her version of things strives to be the ultimate last word. But Torres also examines the bitter woman's diminishing hold on her domain， and it is this triumph of the living city and its inexorable journey into the future over the tenacious ghosts of the past that is the visionary thrust of the novel. In this encompassing， ambitious epic， Caracas emerges as a sensuously and politically charged survivor， the enduring hero. Five-city author tour. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Library Journal Basing her story on an actual Venezuelan court case dating from 1663 that was resolved only in the late 1960s， former clinical psychologist Torres explores the beyond-the-grave obsession of Do?a In?s Villegas y Solorzano with securing title to a tract of jungle property claimed by the black descendants of her husband. Operating within the realm of magical realism， this single-minded lady， who died in 1780， vows to continue her search for her father's original deed until the dust from the archives chokes her and the final strainings of memory dissolve her will. Unabashedly racist in the tradition of her time， Do?a In?s inveighs against her husband's consorting with the slave women (whose sweat she can smell upon his body) and especially against the thanklessness of her husband's black son， whom she could have easily strangled in his infancy. It is to the author's credit that this long monolog is deftly diverted from sounding like a tirade by its richness of detail and sweeping depiction of Caracas as it was transformed from colonial outpost to modern metropolis. [This book is the 1998 winner of the Pegasus Prize， created by the Mobil Corporation to promote international literature.AEd.]AJack Shreve， Allegany Coll. of Maryland， Cumberlan.-AJack Shreve， Allegany Coll. of Maryland， Cumberland Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews