A Year of Favor

by Julia MacDonnell

Overview

Elizabeth Guerrera has been working the South Bronx beat for the New York Herald-Sun for too long when she finally gets her 'big break.' As the new correspondent in the civil-war-torn Central America country of Bellavista, Lizzie finally has the chance to file the front-page stories she's always dreamed of writing.

Once in Libertad, the nation's capital, Lizzie quickly finds her loyalties divided. she is seduced by General Rivas Valez, the minister of defense for the ruling junta and the USA State Department's choice to run the country. Rivas Valdez's searing sexuality is corrupted by his desire to inflict pain on those he touches. As Lizzie uncovers the layers of deceit that veil the Bellavistan landscape, she will discover the extent of his cruelty.

At the same time, Lizzie befriends debutante-turned-midwife Mary Healy, who tries to show Lizzie the true horrors of General Rivas's regime, civilians killed at point blank range and dumped into unmarked graves; countless others simply 'disappeared.' Lizzie's search for truth takes her into the darkest heart of Bellavista, a lush and dangerous place where power grows from terror and deniability....

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475976748
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/21/2013
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.74(d)

Editorial Reviews

``You can't tell both sides of a story when one side, the most powerful side, is lying and the other side is inaccessible,'' says Lizzie Guerrera in this compelling debut. Lizzie is a reporter who exchanges street violence in the South Bronx for civil war in Bellavista, a fictional Central American country. She is sent to Bellavista after her paper's star reporter describes the massacre of hundreds of civilians by a Bellavistan junta propped up by U.S. ``advisors,'' a massacre the state department insists never happened. Initially, Lizzie reports on staged land reform and public works projects, but her desire to play by the rules is swamped by a masochistic affair with junta leader General Rivas Valdez, who promises peace yet deals death and treachery. MacDonnell creates a memorable if not always likable cast, including photographer Sonia Alvinas, whose contemptuous gibes get under Lizzie's skin, and Mary Healy, an American midwife burning with a saint's zeal. Although the story is hindered somewhat by slack pacing, MacDonnell has constructed a compelling novel on a fundamental misunderstanding between desk-bound editors and reporters: What if you tell the truth and the story is still a lie?A false note is struck by Lizzie's frequent, conscious refusals to ask essential questions, a curious habit in a reporter. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

When New York Herald-Sun reporter Elizabeth Guerrera finally gets her big break, she can't leave the sordid world of South Bronx crime fast enough. At last, after a long apprenticeship, she will be covering front-page material: the Central American republic of Bellavista, where a U.S.-backed right-wing military government is stamping out leftist guerrillas. But it doesn't take long for Elizabeth to discover that things are less than clearly defined. The American press and embassy have reasons of their own to turn a blind eye to what's going on, while the aristocratic general Rivas Valdez proves a compelling but dangerous lover. And what about American midwife Mary Healy, whose clinic struggles to help the women and children of Bellavista? Elizabeth finds herself searching for their truths as well as her own as she is drawn into more than reportage in this timely, graphic first novel of political intrigue.-- Ann Donovan, St. Petersburg Junior Coll. Lib., Fla.

Library Journal