Irish writer Anne Enright goes globetrotting in the 19th Century-set "The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch." Though a slim novel, Enright packs lots of passion and politics into this novel based on an Irish woman who has been described as Paraguay's Eva Peron. Eliza is beautiful and adventurous, and meets an ambitious South American lover in Paris. Over the course of the next decade, this power couple rises to the heights of Paraguayan society. But with this power come inevitable abuses and war with neighboring Brazil. Tragedy awaits these once vibrant lovers, in this spare, impressive novel of love and fate. ($23 / 256 pages / Atlantic Monthly Press)