An electrifying memoir from the acclaimed Nicaraguan writer (“A wonderfully free and original talent”—Harold Pinter) and central figure in the Sandinista Revolution.

Until her early twenties, Gioconda Belli inhabited an upper-class cocoon: sheltered from the poverty in Managua in a world of country clubs and debutante balls; educated abroad; early marriage and motherhood. But in 1970, everything changed. Her growing dissatisfaction with domestic life, and a blossoming awareness of the social inequities in Nicaragua, led her to join the Sandinistas, then a burgeoning but still hidden organization. She would be involved with them over the next twenty years at the highest, and often most dangerous, levels.

Her memoir is both a revelatory insider’s account of the Revolution and a vivid, intensely felt story about coming of age under extraordinary circumstances. Belli writes with both striking lyricism and candor about her personal and political lives: about her family, her children, the men in her life; about her poetry; about the dichotomies between her birth-right and the life she chose for herself; about the failures and triumphs of the Revolution; about her current life, divided between California (with her American husband and their children) and Nicaragua; and about her sustained and sustaining passion for her country and its people.


From the Hardcover edition.

Prepare to enter a fascinating, primitive universe that goes back to the very beginning, to the story upon which Western civilization is based. Poetry and mystery go hand in hand in this transcendent novel about mankind, as never before imagined. Join Adam and Eve as they discover the world for themselves, feel their confusion and panic when they face punishment, and observe in awe as they experience the power to give life and, eventually, the ability to take it away to survive.

From internationally acclaimed poet and author Gioconda Belli comes a beguiling and soulfully rewarding novel--a parable that captures our own time and our own uncertain future.

On an outing from her boarding school, young Lucia meets Manuel--art historian and exquisite storyteller--who shares with her the tale of one of history's most tumultuous loves: Queen Juana of Castile's legendary devotion to her husband, Prince Philippe the Handsome. Embracing a union thrust upon her by political necessity, Juana responds with all the passionate abandon inherent in her fiery nature--and is forced to pay a high price for her honest sensuality. For there are those at the Renaissance court who will not allow such unabashed independence in the heir to one of the world's most powerful empires--and they declare Juana mad, denying her ascension to the throne. But is she truly insane, or is she merely a victim of her own impetuosity and unbridled desire? Or is Juana a pawn in a fierce power struggle for control of the throne?

Lucia attends raptly to the tale Manuel relates--and their own story begins to miraculously, dangerously mirror that of Juana the Mad and her beloved prince.

Lavinia is "The Inhabited Woman" accomplished, independent, and fiercely modern. She is sheltered and self-involved, until the spirit of an Indian woman warrior enters her being, then she dares to join a revolutionary movement against a violent dictator and--through the power of love--finds the courage to act.
The Wisconsin edition is for sale only in North America.

El magico relato de nuestros origenes es probablemente el que mas fascinacion ha inspirado en la humanidad a lo largo de los tiempos. Pero, mas alla de los cuarenta versiculos que la Biblia dedica a Adan y Eva, mas alla incluso de la leyenda, como seria la vida de aquella inocente, valiente y conmovedora primera pareja? Como seria aquel universo primigenio? Cual fue el impulso que motivo a que Eva tomara la manzana prohibida? Y que pensamientos le pasaron por la cabeza a ambos una vez que comprendieron las consecuencias de lo que Eva acababa de hacer?

Preparese para adentrar en un mundo fascinante y primitivo que lo llevara al comienzo de todo, a la historia en la que se basa la civilizacion judio-cristiana. Poesia y misterio se dan la mano en esta sorprendente novela que nos presenta al primer hombre y la primera mujer descubriendose y descubriendo su entorno, experimentando el desconcierto ante el castigo, el poder de dar vida y la crueldad de matar para sobrevivir.

Esta novela que nos brinda Gioconda Belli es una parabola para nuestros tiempos y para un futuro inesperado que logra cautivar y complacer cada centimetro de nuestra alma.

Un novela extraordinaria de amor y locura, en la que un historiador y una joven estudiante investigan la enigmatica vida de Juana la Loca

La Reina Juana de Castilla, hija y madre de reyes, es el personaje mas carismatico y fascinante de un periodo crucial de la historia de Espana. Hermosa, inteligente, segura y poderosa, se rebelo contra la represion y los abusos, y lucho sin descanso por ser fiel a si misma. En 1509, con veintinueve anos, fue declarada loca y encerrada en Tordesillas, donde permanecio hasta su muerte en 1555.

Cuatro siglos mas tarde, a traves de Lucia una joven de asombroso parecido con la Reina Juana de Castilla un historiador busca resolver el enigma de quien fue mas conocida como Juana la Loca. Enloquecio de amor, como cuenta la historia oficial, o fue victima de traiciones y luchas por el poder? Seducida por la pasion de la palabra, Lucia se adentra en un pasado que alterara su presente para siempre. En esta novela, historica y contemporanea, Juana de Castilla regresa para contar su propia version de los hechos.

Set in strife-torn Guatemala City in the early 1980s, this sophisticated, quasi-comedic tale depicts the decline and near-fall of a prominent Guatemalan Jewish family. In the face of military rule, terrorism, and sabotage, Marcos learns the truth about his brother Aaron, only to find that sibling secrets can be every bit as dangerous as civil unrest.

Gioconda Belli's poetry, widely published and revered in Latin America and Europe, celebrates the longing for a society in which humanity constructs its future, animated by an inextinguishable erotic, maternal, and transcentendly loving desire. As Salman Rushdie wrote in his book, "The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey, "her poetry is a "kind of public love poetry that comes clower, to expressing the passion of Nicaragua than anything I [have] yet heard."