"Sergio Ramírez has taken the best ingredients of Nicaraguan history—dictatorship and poetry, madness and love, conspiracies and con-men—and cooked them into a masterpiece that will thrill English-language readers as it has those of us who have read Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea in Spanish."—Ariel Dorfman, author of Death and the Maiden|"Using brilliant language, Ramírez interweaves myth and reality to enrich the plot of this fascinating novel."—Claribel Alegría, author of Sorrow, and co-author of Death of Somoza|"A total novel about the secret mysteries of science, of poetry, and of dictatorships. the beauties of Rubén Darío and the horrors of Somoza intertwine in an unforgettable and absorbing story."—Thomás Eloy Martinez