A Book of Common Prayer

Charlotte Douglas, an American women, travels to Boca Grande, a fictional Central American country, hoping to find her estranged daughter Marin, a radical on the run. In Boca Grande, with its volatile political scene, both women are exposed to the upheavals and violence that they had hoped to escape in their personal lives. The story is narrated by a third character, Grace Strasser-Mendana, a wealthy local woman who is well aware that the country is a powder keg waiting to explode, and who tries to make the woefully innocent Charlotte understand the danger she is in. Joan Didion's examination of innocence and evil is written in her trademark lean style, and evokes the world Didion has made her own, in which moral values are furtive and shifting, and the only reality is chaos. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.