Doña Isidora, Peruvian Short Stories and Poetry of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Doña Isidora is a story of love, romance, disobedience, disinheritance, betrayal, repentance and reform, of learning to lead a fulfilling life for the benefit of the community. The setting is the quaint Andean town the natives call Pomabamba (Region of Mountain Lions), located in northern Peru. The heroine, fifteen-year-old Ishi Villarreal, is about to pass from girlhood to young womanhood; as is customary, she is expected to be obedient and marry the suitor her parents have already selected for her. Unbeknownst to Teodosio and Dona Luisa, however, Ishi has secretly fallen in love with the aptly named Amador, a dashing young Spanish Don Juan newly arrived in town.

Will the hopes and dreams of Ishi's parents become a reality? Or will true love conquer all?

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A native of Pomabamba, Peru, Dorila A. Marting grew up surrounded by the tales of her native city as told by family members and local Quechua storytellers. In Peruvian Short Stories, Marting brings these childhood accounts to life with a narrative that is as distinctively authentic as it is universally relatable.

"This Peruvian legend has many versions depending on who is telling the story. I will relate to you what I heard a long, long time ago, as a child, from an elderly storyteller Quechua woman named Mama Cunchina."
—The Cave of Maria Josefa

With voices spanning from the small and elderly mouse (the Emigration of Domestic Animals) to the all-encompassing Mama Patcha (Mother Earth), every story is uniquely enchanting while still supporting the overall parable that is weaved throughout the collection. Marting illustrates her memories with the ease of the Quechua storytellers of her youth, and indeed, these accounts of love, loss, family, nature, friendship, and respect are as crucial and resonant today as they were during the inception of Peruvian Folklore.

“I invite you to navigate to a foreign land and to a foreign culture and enjoy these stories as much as I have."
—Mary L. Jones, introduction

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These poems are the author's recollections of life in Peru and the United States. Her background in journalism is reflected in her writing style and choice of topics. She worked for nine years for two leading daily newspapers, The Arizona Republic in Phoenix and The Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff, Arizona.