WHERE ANGELS GLIDE AT DAWN: New Stories from Latin America

A worthy, unusually funny story collection: magical rabbits infiltrate the state portraits of a dictator; snow is delivered to the hot, sunny streets of San Juan; and a bear moves through the pipes of an apartment house, fondly overseeing the tenants. There are also more ordinary sights: an angry father in a traffic jam; an eight-year-old ruefully facing the consequences of walking around with his eyes closed. This all-too-brief collection will stir readers with its diverse images, eclectic observations, and sometimes solid, sometimes lilting prose. Among the contributors are Julio Cortázar, Ariel Dorfman, and Jorge Ibarguengoitia; there is an evocative, wistful introduction by Isabel Allende. Most of the tales tread in political waters, but none is drowned there.