This book is an edited and translated compilation of correspondence between Latin America's first Nobel laureate in literature, Gabriela Mistral, and her romantic and professional partner Doris Dana. In addition to over 200 letters spanning the years 1948 to 1956, the book includes a fine introductory essay by editor and translator Velma García-Gorena, letters written by contemporaries about Mistral, brief biographies of the individuals mentioned in the letters, a chronology of Mistral's life, and an essay by Doris Atkinson (Mistral's executor) about Doris Dana and her family.

The letters in this compilation are drawn from the archival collection at the National Library of Chile. Most of the letters reproduced in the book were written by Mistral, who destroyed the letters she received from Dana, while Dana preserved letters she received from Mistral. Many of the letters were previously published in Pedro Pablo Zegers (ed.), Gabriela Mistral, niña errante: cartas a Doris Dana (Barcelona: Random House Mondadori, 2010). Niña errante was controversial when released in Chile, given its publication of evidence of Mistral and Dana's romantic relationship and the subsequent upending of national myths surrounding Mistral, who had long been portrayed as a chaste Catholic spinster. The letters showed a different Mistral, a passionate author and globe-trotting consul with a far-flung network of friends and companions, a complex social life, opinionated perspectives on social and political issues, and a long-standing romantic and professional relationship with Dana. This book provides little that is original in this regard. Its strength lies in making the letters accessible to English-language audiences and in García-Gorena's discussion of their significance.

García-Gorena approaches the letters as an essential aspect of Mistral's literary production in a way that highlights the importance of epistolary writing to the historical interpretation of authors’ work, lives, and times. Mistral spent much of her life outside of Chile and wrote the letters while working as a consul and living in the US, Mexico, and Italy. The letters demonstrate that she maintained relationships with a network of authors, cultural figures, and friends, considering herself, García-Gorena argues, part of a “female literary network” (2).

In addition to addressing her romantic partnership with Dana, the letters suggest that Mistral held fluid notions of gender identity and essentialist notions of race, and was unorthodox in her religious thought. They offer insight into Mistral's grief over her son's death, her obsession with owning residential property and moving from place to place, concerns about politics, money, and health, worry that her correspondence with Dana would be intercepted, and commentary on the people who populated their personal and professional worlds. García-Gorena's work clearly positions the letters as a significant contribution to literary studies and intellectual, LGBTQ, Latin American, and women's history.