Inez

Two narratives twine through this superb novel: one introduces Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara a fabled orchestral conductor and his great passion Inez Prada a red-haired Mexican diva; the other is a mysterious telling of the first encounter in human history between a man and a woman. Berlioz's music for <em>The Damnation of Faust</em> brings Gabriel and Inez together while the emerging love of neh-el and ah-nel--the original lovers--echoes the Faustian pact of love and death. Linking these narratives is a beautiful crystal seal that belongs to Atlan-Ferrara its meaning an enigma that obsesses him. And like the light refracted through the seal these stories begin in prehistory and spiral out into infinity. <br> In <em>Inez</em> we find Carlos Fuentes at the height of his magical and realist powers. This profound and beautiful work confirms his standing as one of the world's pre-eminent novelist.<br>