Asher has written a book full of human compassion about death and life. Fifty-something Monroe Colson is a complicated man, an old-fashioned man, a multi-talented man, and a man dying of cancer, which diagnosis he prefers to keep to himself. So he uproots and leaves his friends behind in Periwinkle, TX to go to Mexico and paint. At least that's what he says.

On his first day in the mountain village of San Miguel de Allende he flies to the rescue of 24-year-old Angelina Feretti who has just been assaulted and robbed by the man she was making her ex-fiance when he took exception to rejection. It doesn't take long for Monroe and Angelina to set up housekeeping and become mutually dependent, and for their needs and desires to become personal. Then an unexpected tragedy strikes.

It is Angelina who teaches Monroe the life lessons that make his final days beautiful and dignified, and it is Monroe who teaches Angelina her worth -- and maybe a little something about art. This is not a shallow nor a light book but it is easy to read. Asher's Texan and Mexican characters have the roundness and depth that make them real, likable, and interesting. One feels the influence of Larry McMurtry on John Asher and it's a good thing. After all, Picasso, Monroe tells Angelina, proudly admitted that he stole from every artist. We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before; we all need a guide or an example in getting through our lives -- and our deaths. ( )