Inez

Eminent Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes has blended myth, legend and modern history to produce a fascinating novel. Few writers can express the effect of music on the page but Fuentes achieves it with his dramatic description of performances of Berlioz's The Damnation Of Faust. His two protagonists, the maestro Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara and the beautiful Mexican diva Inez Prada, meet rarely but each meeting is significant. When he sees her in the chorus during a performance in London at the height of the Blitz, Atlan-Ferrara recognizes her as the woman who can match his interpretation of Berlioz's passion. They come together many years later in Mexico City only to part again. A truly extraordinary performance, again in London, sees her at the height of her powers. They talk of their love but fail to convince each other. As an old man Ferrara has only her gift to remind him of her: a crystal seal, an object of jealousy to the woman who cares for him but, to him, an infinitely precious reminder of passion and loss. Interwoven with this story is another, that of the man, neh-el, and ah-nel who bears his child. These lovers exist before our time; they flee before the encroaching ice and print the shape of the baby's hand on the wall of a cave. The power of beauty, death and love are powerful themes which Fuentes explores over and over again, showing how music can translate them into art. (Kirkus UK)