• Fiction. By Daniel Alarcon. HarperCollins, $24.95.Grade: A-

Plot in a nutshell: The book's title is taken from the name of a radio program in an unnamed South American country in tumult. Norma, the show's host, has become an icon in the country, as she attempts to reunite refugees who have fled to the city, escaping war, with the loved ones they have left behind in their native towns and villages. In helping others through her popular show, Norma also secretly hopes to find her own husband, Rey, who has been missing for 10 years. A surprise young visitor to the station leads Norma to start resolving her own haunting mystery.

Sample of prose: "Consider the improbability of it: that the multiple complaints of a people could somehow coalesce and find expression in an act - in any act - of violence. What does a car bomb say about poverty, or the execution of a rural mayor explain about disenfranchisement? Yet Rey had been a party to this for nine years. The war had become, if it wasn't from the very beginning, an indecipherable text. The country had slipped, fallen into a nightmare, now horrifying, now comic, and in the city, there was only a sense of dismay at the inexplicability of it. Had it begun with a voided election? Or the murder of a popular senator? Who could remember now? They had all been student protesters, had felt the startling power of a mob, shouting as one chorus of voices - but that was years ago, and times had changed. No one still believed all that, did they?"

Pros: Alarcon has succeeded in delivering a wise look at the ravages of war and political strife through the lens of a quietly heartbroken woman, portraying the affected country and its citizenry with both sympathy and a critical eye.

Cons: It's a small complaint that the setting was not more easily recognizable. As Alarcon takes readers between the mountains, jungles, a bustling metropolitan area and its suburbs, one can't help guessing what country the place is based on.

Final word: This is an impressive debut novel from Alarcon, who effortlessly moves between the emotional longing Norma lives with for years and the violent political power-struggle waged between the government and its opposing guerilla factions.