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"  File this month&amp;#039;s fiction round under the heading of &amp;quot;Lost Souls,&amp;quot; with its three novels conjuring the fates of tormented lovers and delusional misfits: A steamy tale of tropical tristesse by National Book Award finalist Marie Arana (American Chica, Cello\u00ADphane) ran away with the laurels, and the neck-and-neck runners-up were shadow-tinged portraits of troubled loners by Stacey D&amp;#039;Erasmo (Tea, A Seahorse Year) and Los Angeles\u2013based journalist, artist, and debut novelist Nancy Spiller. So it seems love\u2014however doomed\u2014does conquer all. 1. Marie Arana, Lima Nights (Dial Press) While skillfully delving into the upper-class mind of Carlos, Arana doesn&amp;#039;t shy away from illuminating the deeply ingrained prejudices that exist toward Indians like Maria. Yet the richness, sensuality, and beauty of Peruvian culture are lost when the story spotlights sexual desire too brightly\u2014and for this story to be truly satisfying, Maria would have needed to possess a more individual voice than that of an impoverished young mistress desiring security.\u2014Joanne M. Choi, Boston 2. Nancy Spiller, Entertaining Disasters (counterpoint) A writer dishes about her lavish dinner parties for food magazines; what her readers don&amp;#039;t know is that she hasn&amp;#039;t hosted a real party in years\u2014the soirees take place only in her head. When an important editor invites himself to one of her legendary events, she panics, obsesses, and seeks a way to get out of it. This may sound like the stuff of chick-lit comedy, but it&amp;#039;s not: It&amp;#039;s an extended brood on food, love, family, and the exhausting rat race of L.A. This book doesn&amp;#039;t have a lot of plot, but it offers sharp, startling observations in a unique and very human voice.\u2014Susan Jensen, Mesa, AZ 3. Stacey D&amp;#039;Erasmo, The Sky Below (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) Rich in detail, with expertly spun sentences, this is a novel for connoisseurs of words. As we follow Gabriel Collins&amp;#039; life\u2014the painful departure of his father, the loss of a mother he remembers as creative and attentive, the necessity of fending for himself and his sister\u2014we endure with him his long wait for a coming-of-age that never materializes the way he expects, and we bear witness to the thin line between reality and fantasy. Well into adulthood, Gabriel is beholden to a world he has created in his mind even as he moves through real life and relationships. More than anything, this novel explores the question, If you think something is true, does that make it real?\u2014Tammy Gardner, Odessa, TX Raw and cold, this story portrays the life of a lost boy who turns to drugs and prostitution to fill a void within and grows into a hardened, indifferent man. Unfortunately, the beauty of D&amp;#039;Erasmo&amp;#039;s writing almost disappears behind the ugly subject matter of The Sky Below, which is graphic,disturbing, and depressing.\u2014Susan Jensen, Mesa, AZ "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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