"Intimate, emotion-saturated portrait . . . the flavors and the colors are vivid . . . A] compelling picture of contemporary Colombia and the roots of its problems . . . a gift for the rest of us."--William Grimes, The New York Times

Growing up in the coastal city of Barranquilla, Colombia, Silvana Paternostro enjoyed a privileged childhood, a comfortable existence marred only briefly by fleeting encounters with the social inequalities and burgeoning drug trade that threatened the country's security. Soon, however, these shadowy threats intensified, boiling over into...