The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch

In a story that is as rich and exotic as its setting, Paraguay in the 1850s, Irish writer Enright's third novel envisions the life of the woman who became that country's Eva Peron. Eliza, extraordinarily beautiful, charming, and intelligent, meets Francisco Lopez, eldest son of the Paraguayan dictator then in power, in Paris, then goes home with him, pregnant with his child. Ostracized by her lover's family, indeed by all of the local society, Eliza survives in a grand manner and becomes both greatly admired for her kindness and reviled for what is presumed to be her political sway. Enright matches Eliza's narration with that of Stewart's, an alcoholic doctor brought from Europe to the wilderness to tend to Eliza during childbirth, thus providing a diversity of voice and point of view that much enhances the tale. With a style vastly unlike that of her two previous novels, Enright artfully explores the power of beauty and the beauty of power, and finds them remarkably similar as neither leads to a good end.