I CAN HEAR THE COWBELLS RING is Lionel G. Garcia's collection of autobiographical vignettes reconstructing life in a small rural village in South Texas after World War II. With characteristic fine humor and occasional brushstrokes of nostalgia, the author succeeds in portraying a multitude of characters -- from his, crazy uncle Merce, to the long suffering village priest and the town dog -- brought together by warmth, tolerance and caring that binds them into an extended family. Throughout, the joy of life that pervades this remarkable collection dazzles the reader into a reaffirmation of all that is good and courageous in human beings struggling to eke out an existence with little more than hope and the sweat from their unending toil.
