This is an extraordinary book. The fictional account of a real family from the Dominican Republic, the book follows the lives of both famed poet Salome Urena de Henriquez and her daughter, Camila. I particularly loved its structure; the chapters alternate between Salome and Camila's point of view, and while Salome's story starts at the beginning of her life and progresses toward the end, Camila's proceeds backwards. Salome dies when Camila is very young, yet the two women have a profound effect on each other, so it only makes sense that book's structure leads them to each other, to the brief time that mother and daughter have to spend together. The political struggles of the Dominican Republic and Cuba play a large role here, but Alvarez wisely emphasizes the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters, particularly for the tongue-tied Camila who lives in her mother's verbally eloquent shadow. Very, very glad I read this.