Fiction. Translated from the Spanish by Adrienne Mitchell. Combining elements of the real and the fantastic, BEAUTIFUL AND DARK (Bella y oscura) is written from the perspective of Baba, an orphaned girl taken to live with relatives in a neighborhood called El Barrio. Trying to cope with the mystery and violence of the adult world around her, she is drawn to the Lilliputian Airelei, who fascinates Baba with her fantastic tales that mix myth and memory. In her most thoughtful novel to date, Rosa Montero brilliantly combines intrigue and imagination with personal insight into human nature--Javier Escudero, World Literature in Review.