Publisher's Synopsis
When the Beltr?n brothers came to this Andean valley, they found behind barred windows beautiful twin sisters - last in the line of an illustrious conquistador. Through them the Beltr?n dynasty was born - a dynasty that ruled the valley for 200 years and was now returning to the dust. Two centuries later, Lydia was scarcely out of school when she fell in love with Don Diego Beltr?n and left England behind for her husband's Andean estate. Benito, the family's oldest retainer, said that through her the valley would not be forgotten: "Fate has brought you to us, to chronicle our decline." In the night's stillness he told her of romance and battle, drought and pestilence, splendour and suffering. Out of the upheaval and decay come a narrative and language astonishing in their fertility.
