Here, in an astonishing debut by a gifted storyteller, is the magnificent saga of proud and passionate men and women and the turbulent times through which they suffer and triumph. They are the Truebas. And theirs is a world you will not want to leave, and one you will not forget. Esteban -- The patriarch, a volatile and proud man whose lust for land is legendary and who is haunted by his tyrannical passion for the wife he can never completely possess. Clara -- The matriarch, elusive and mysterious, who foretells family tragedy and shapes the fortunes of the house of the Truebas. Blanca -- Their daughter, soft-spoken yet rebellious, whose shocking love for the son of her father"s foreman fuels Esteban"s everlasting contempt... even as it produces the grandchild he adores. Alba -- The fruit of Blanca"s forbidden love, a luminous bearty, a fiery and willful woman... the family"s break with the past and link to the future. From the Paperback edition.