Of Forgotten Times

"Of Forgotten Times "is at once a novel of romance, a novel about mothers and daughters, and a novel of the dictator. Set in a fictional Caribbean island, it begins at the time of the conquistadors and ends in relatively modern times. The novel focuses on the stories of the women of two different families whose only point in common is the dictator who rules the island nation. One set of women, the Parduz's, is descendant of green-eyed slaves who practice voodoo-like rituals even through modern times in a village so distant from the major cities that its remoteness fuses with timelessness and where ancient practices continue to have relevance in the present. It takes an arranged marriage to the most powerful figure of the country to reconcile an abandoned daughter with her mother and consequently with their shared past. The other set of women, Luisa and Mercedes Valverde, is a mother and daughter who seek to find a way out of the endemic -conditions of poverty they live in. Through compromise and sacrifice they do eventually find their way out. "Of Forgotten Times "describes life in a country ruled by a ruthless, power-hungry, machista tyrant who is married to Herminia Parduz and whose lover, among others, is Mercedes Valverde.Writer and filmmaker Marisela Rizik was born in Santa Domingo and has lived in Eugene, Oregon since 1981. Her stories, articles, and essays have appeared in various North American journals. "Of Forgotten Times "is her first novel, originally published in Spanish in Santa Domingo in 1996.Translator Isabel Z. Brown is an associate professor of Spanish at The University of South Alabama in Mobile. Born in Paris, she has resided in various countries, includingthe Dominican Republic. She lives in Mobile, Alabama with her husband and their three children.