Mario Bencastro 
Tree of Life 

A grand, mystical tree festooned with brilliant red flowers becomes the heart of a village. When the tentacles of civil unrest tear the hamlet apart, the tree swallows the dead, and the fallen friends and enemies are born again to live in peace within the majestic and benevolent tree. The passion and politics of the civil war in El Salvador and the blight of political strife and social injustice color this richly textured short story collection, With poetic vision, Mario Bencastro chronicles a chapter of hemispheric history that gripped El Salvador and polarized not only the United States but also every other country in South America. The turmoil, intrigue and suffering have been captured and universalized in these beautifully wrought tales told from the perspective of the common man caught up in a confusing maelstrom.