In Praise of the Stepmother

With meticulous observation, Mario Vargas Llosa lures the reader into the shadow of erotic perversion that, little by little, darkens the extraordinary happiness and harmony of the characters: the sensual Lucrecia, a 40-year-old stepmother; Rigoberto, her attentive, imaginative husband; and Alfonso, his angelic son, the personification of innocence and desire.


Genre: Literary Fiction