Lovesick

A charmed young woman with the good fortune to have been born into a privileged, freethinking class of fin-de-siecle Puebla society, Emilia Sauri is the product of a family of progressive eccentrics: Diego, her father, is a Mayan curandero equally fluent in his knowledge of folk remedies and European medicine, and possessed of an incurable addiction to armchair politics; Josefa, her mother, is Diego's perfect counterpart - a devoted wife with a passion for the novels of Zola, an aversion to politics, and a soup to cure every form of emotional distress; and her aunt, Milagros, is a beautiful, fiery radical who leaves a string of heartbroken lovers in her wake rather than relinquish an ounce of her prized independence. It is Milagros, most of all, who schools Emilia in the way of the world, the art of politics, and the wars of the heart. Emilia's heart is captured early on by her childhood playmate Daniel Cuenca - Milagros's godson and the son of a gentlemanly doctor whose weekly salons provide genteel covers for Puebla's activists and intellectuals. As his country is drawn into a civil war, Daniel heeds the call of his party and takes off after whomever he believes the most promising leader of the moment, beginning a series of brutal partings and passionate reunions that leave Emilia feeling abandoned, angry, and in spite of herself, ever more ardent. Emilia discovers her own gift for healing and pursues the study of medicine, learning the mysterious science of herbs in her father's apothecary, apprenticing with Dr. Cuenca, and later, traveling north to Chicago to receive her formal training. It is during one of Daniel's prolonged absences that Emilia meets Antonio Zavalza, a physicianwho returns to Puebla to open a small hospital with his inherited wealth. Working side by side, Emilia and Dr. Zavalza fall in love, to no one's surprise, as Zavalza has been smitten with Emilia since he first heard the sound of her voice and has been a patient and steadfast suito