The fully realized tale of a power-hungry young Irish woman Elisa Lynch and her adventures in 19th-century Paraguay. Based on real people and events, Tuck peoples her novel with gauchos and other colorful characters. The love story (and a love story it is) unfolds against the backdrop of a psychopathic Francisco Solano Lopez and his disastrous war between Paraguay and her neighbors. Ms. Lynch is the the subject of another recent novel (The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch) and two biogaphies: The Empress of South America and The Shadows of Elisa Lynch, How a Nineteenth Century Irish Courtesan Became the Most Powerful Woman in Paraguay.  (SAM69, $13.95)