The tale of thoroughly modern, contradictory Guadalupe Magdalena Molina Vásquez of Mazatlan (or some fictional place just like it). Barabara Kingsolver chose this book as the first recipeient of her Bellwether Prize supporting literature of social change (a ponderous name but appropriate for this lyrical tale of a woman who scrambles out of poverty). The choice of the name Magdalena for the title character is no coincidence.  (MEX122, $12.95)