cinda crabbe mackinnon

Set in an emerald cloud forest in the final decades of the 1900’s this passionate novel reads like a South American "Out of Africa". "A Place in the World" is the romantic-adventure story of a young biologist and a multicultural cast of characters.
Alicia, a young American expat, marries Colombian Jorge Carvallo and they settle on his family’s remote coffee finca (farm) in the Andes. Educated as a biologist, she revels in the surrounding cloud-forest. However, following an idyllic year, calamities strike one after another and their marriage begins to unravel. After a nomadic childhood, Alicia refuses to budge in spite of a volcanic eruption that nearly destroys the coffee crop and guerillas and drug-lords that loom in the background. Jorge leaves, but headstrong Alicia remains to salvage the coffee and ends up running the finca.
A woman without a country in a man’s world, the initially naïve Alicia survives by her wit and determination. A passionate affair ensues with Peter, a rugged geologist whose work keeps him coming and going. She also forms a tight friendship with Carmen, the barefoot woman who has worked for the Carvallo family most of her life. Despite being separated by class and nationality, these two single mothers forge a strong bond.
The intricate web of events climaxes when Alicia finds herself in a life-threatening situation, ultimately forcing her to come to terms with herself and the unconventional life she has adopted.