Alvarez has always found multiple points of view not merely compatible but necessary to record and express the nuances of theme and character. She tells this story from the point of view of a mother, Salome, and her daughter, Camila. Sometimes the point of view is simply limited omniscient, sometimes it seems to be first-person interior, and sometimes it is an unlimited om niscient point of view. Her strategy undoubtedly owes much to her basing the work extensively on historical documents, including the diary of Pedro Henriquez Urena, editions of Salome's poetry, and editions of the Henriquez Urena family correspondence. It is helpful to note that Alvarez has worked very successfully in this mode before, especially with In the Time of the Butterflies, blurring the distinctions between fact and fiction to create a compelling and coherent and "true" work of art.

Camila is sixty-six in the prologue, the...