Title: Aurora
First published: 1999
Description: The first novel by a Bolivian woman to appear in English translation, Aurora chronicles the long-neglected history of women and minority ethnic groups in this Latin American nation. Set in the fifties, at the dawn of the Revolutionary period, the novel begins with a passionate encounter between the rebellious young woman, Aurora, and the heir to a prosperous local hacienda. But when he refuses to marry her, Aurora runs away with him anyway, and as his common-law wife, is ostracized from polite society.

Her relationship, idyllic at first, eventually puts her at the center of the political struggles facing modern Bolivia. Aurora defies her husband, and her class, by teaching the Indian ranch workers to read. Eventually her sincere efforts generate social change at her own expense.

The dual sense of helplessness and empowerment that characterize the experience of Latin American women hits with full force in Aurora, as de Quiroga skillfully interlaces contemporary gender, class and ethnic conflict with magical and lyrical powers of description.
Subjects: Fiction, general
LC classification: PQ7820.Q57 F6613 1999