This volume examines Bombal's fictional works as a reflection of a socioeconomic period in Chilean life. It emphasizes the positive utilization of fantasy throughout Bombal's work as a compensatory and sublimating counterpart to the unsatisfied desires and emotional needs of her protagonists. This unique view is convincingly reinforced by Bombal's own words. The author conducted the last recorded interview with Bombal before her death. The interview took place in Viña del Mar in January 1979, and is included in its entirety as an Appendix.

"[This work] will most certainly appeal to a broad range of readers...One gains a greater appreciation of the universality of Bombal's works." —Virginia Brownell Levine, Hispania.