EL(product)NA

Growing up in Mexico before the Revolution, strong-willed El‚na goes against Pap's orders and the custom of the time to learn to read (""Ei‚na took to education like a bird to the air"") and to marry Pablo, a poor Indian with no inheritance (""There was a peacefulness about him that felt like ancient wisdom""). El‚na is a happy mother of four and Pablo has become a famous artisan (his sombreros are known even to Pancho Villa) when he dies suddenly in an accident. Taking to heart his deathbed prediction of a terrible war, El‚na flees her home and struggles as a poor immigrant so that her children can become Americans. In her first novel, Stanley (The True Adventure of Daniel Hall, 1995, etc.) makes El‚na a one-dimensional figure, but she's such a heroic proponent of following your own heart that she stands above the sentimental story and keeps it involving.