Little Red Riding Hood in the Red Light District is Manlio Argueta's most popular novel in El Salvador, translated into English for the first time by Edward Waters Hood. A kaleidoscopic tale of political romance, the story revolves around the relationship of two young lovers in a time of social upheaval, evoking characters and themes from the classic fairy tale within the wartime environment of El Salvador and its capital, San Salvador.

This remarkable novel continues the saga of life among the common people in El Salvador begun with One Day of Life. A Place Called Milagro de la Paz tells the story of the courage and strength of two women, a single mother and her daughter, who have to overcome the trauma of the murder of the mother's older daughter and survive in an atmosphere of bitter poverty. The book is filled, however, with magical, lyric moments of love and hope, especially surrounding the figure of a strange young girl with butterflies in her hair who appears suddenly and adopts the family. The tiny family group bravely preserves traditional values in spite of fear and repression.