1907. Léon, Nicaragua. During a tribute which he delivers during his triumphal return to his native city, the legendary poet Rubén Darío writes on the fan of a little girl one of his most famous poems, ‘Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea’.

1956. In a cafe in Léon, a group of literati gather, dedicated to, among other things, the rigorous reconstruction of the legend surrounding Darío—and also to conspire. There will be an attempt against the life of the dictator Anastasio Somoza, considered the ‘national shame’ of Nicaragua. And that little girl with the fan a half-century earlier will not be a disinterested party.

In Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea, Sergio Ramírez encompasses, in a complete metaphor of reality and legend, the entire history of his country. The narrative moves along paths fifty years apart, which inevitably converge. The story becomes a fascinating exercise in the power of memory and in the influence of the past, fictitious or not. Written with the overtones of a Greek tragedy and brimming with nobility, this is a perfect novel that exposes the seamy underbelly of reality even as it approaches the very height of its dignity.