Lovesick

When young Emilia Sauri is born in turn-of-the-century Puebla, Mexico, her father expects great things for this child who will "live her entire life in a new century." Emilia grows up to be an independent woman, a doctor in a time and place when female physicians were few and far between, but history has a habit of sidetracking even the most regulated lives; the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1911 throws the nation into chaos and Emilia's future into uncertainty. Angeles Mastretta's second novel, Lovesick, follows the fortunes of Emilia and of Mexico as both are torn by the ravages of war. For Mexico, a dictator's triumphant overthrow slips rapidly into endless bloody revolution; for Emilia, her peaceful life as a healer is disrupted by her conflicting feelings for her lover, a fellow doctor, and Daniel Cuenca, a childhood friend-turned-revolutionary.

In real life, love and war seldom end neatly. So it is with Lovesick, a novel that refuses to give either its characters or readers easy solutions to complex problems. Emilia's choice between the meaningful existence she shares with her lover and the exhilaration she experiences with Daniel is at the heart of this book, yet Angeles Mastretta's novel doesn't wear that heart on its sleeve; like life, Lovesick leaves some questions unanswered.