One of the threads that runs through Elena Poniatowska's oeuvre is that of foreigners who have fallen in love with Mexico and its people. This is certainly the case of Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela - a brief novel (so short it was originally published in its entirety in Octavio Paz's literary magazine Vuelta). The Russian exile and painter Angelina Beloff writes from the cold and impoverished post-war Paris to Diego Rivera, her spouse of over ten years. Beloff sends these letters to which there is no response during a time when the emancipation of women has broken many of the standard...

Cronica del alba, is the first in an autobiographical series of nine novels by one of the most famous twentieth- century Spanish novelists, Ramon Sender. The novel recounts the very funny adventures of a rebellious ten-year-old and has an immediate appeal to readers of all ages. However, the narrative frame of the Spanish Civil War points to more depth and the major events of twentieth century Spanish history. The critical introduction places the author and the novel in the context of the Spanish Civil War, the Franco regime, the literature of exile and censorship and shows how they...