Black Oxen is the story of Carme Risk's pursuit of her beautiful and not quite human father through two worlds and three changes of identity.

In her forties, in the year 2022, Risk has entered narrative therapy. Her memories and her father's journal take her from the Eden of her earliest childhood to dusty, poor Lequama, a Latin American country, where she and her father become involved with the slightly mad young leaders of a recent revolution and where everyone seems to practice black magic. And, finally, to life in northern California, where Risk, still in thrall to her elusive father, is now the widow of Lequama's most notorious torturer.

Black Oxen features romantic intrigue, machete murders, battles, and bacchanals. Full of unforgettable characters -- from an unusually lucky Taoscal chief, to a sexually ferocious therapist, to a frail billionaire who wants to live forever -- it is a deliciously entertaining and beautifully written novel.