THE GOLDEN SERPENT

The author of Broad and Alien is the World writes an atmospheric, episodic, lyrical ""novel"" which concerns the little known, luxuriant Calemar valley of the Maranon in the Peruvian interior, and the ""cholos"" who live along its banks. Fiesta, rainy season, landslide, puma hunt, and dominating all the river which defies and destroys the life of the natives. There are Arturo and Roge, brothers and boatmen, -- Arturo, who runs off with Lucinda after a festival; Roge, who is drowned in a river rise; there is Dona Mariana, who lost her husband to the army and who kills the enchanted puma; there is the engineer from the city who dreams of gold and dies of snakebite. Quality of people and place -- but limited in its appeal to a North American market.