Lovesick.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

by Angeles Mastretta. Trans., Margaret Sayers Peden. New York: Riverhead, 1997; Mal de amores. Mexico City: Alfaguara, 1996.

Mexican novelist Angeles Mastretta is a master tale spinner who gathers up threads of history, popular culture, Indian lore, mythology, philosophy, and science, then weaves them into an enthralling love story with skill and humor.

Emilia, the novel's heroine, is the daughter of Diego Sauri, a nineteenth-century progressive with a passion for science, politics, and travel, and Josefa Veytia, a down-to-earth beauty from Puebla. After they marry, Diego starts an apothecary shop in his wife's hometown, where liberal factions are demanding an end to the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. The town's intellectuals meet regularly at the home of Dr. Octavio Cuenca, an outspoken physician and defender of democratic reform.

While Sauri pooh-poohs religion, at least as it is practiced by manipulative priests, Josefa and her sister Milagros manifest a spiritual dimension. Milagros, especially, is something of a mystic, a devotee of the Indian goddesses of her pre-Hispanic roots. It is in this stimulating atmosphere that the Sauris, daughter--whom Diego insists on naming Emilia in honor of Rousseau--is born.

While steeping us in the nuances of prerevolutionary liberal politics, Mastretta recreates exquisitely the Sauris' domestic routine--the household chores, the care of plants and animals, the meals, the activity in the apothecary shop, the political meetings, the gossip, the social and cultural outings.

Swaddled in the warmth of her family, Emilia grows into a strong, confident woman, intellectually curious and anxious to make a contribution. She is only a baby when she first meets Daniel, Dr. Cuenca's younger son. The two fall in love naturally, as a matter of course.

A widower, Cuenca sends Daniel to a school where he receives a Rousseau-inspired education, then to the United States to study law. When the Revolution breaks out, Daniel unsurprisingly joins the insurgents. In the meantime Emilia, who has worked in the apothecary shop since childhood, undertakes the study of medicine with Dr. Cuenca. On Daniel's rare visits home, he and Emilia make love wherever and whenever they can. Diego and Josefa are aware of the affair, but in these tumultuous times, the old rules no longer apply. A ferocious war is raging throughout Mexico; no one knows if and when Daniel will ever come back. People live for the moment. The problem is, living...