Fiction. Against her parents' wishes, recent college grad Gretchen Kemp has left small-town Ohio with her best friend, Kimberly, to make a new life in New York City. But when Kimberly is assaulted outside their apartment and decides to leave, Gretchen is on her own. Lonely and isolated, she takes a chance on two new friends from very different worlds: on the one hand, Bloomingdales and celebrity auctions with golden girl Paige; on the other, salsa clubs and telenovelas with vibrant, sassy Marisol. Quickly, New York becomes a place of wonder and excitement as Gretchen gets caught up in her friends' soap opera-like lives. But the city has another side, drugs and violence, which links their lives in unexpected and dangerous ways, threatening Gretchen's new friendships and her ability to survive in the city. SPANISH SOAP OPERAS uses the device of soap-opera action to examine social behaviors and attitudes of young working women in the crucible of New York in the late 1980's - sort of Jane Austen meets Sex in the City. The story explores themes of friendship, work life, family relations, romance, drugs and homelessness, as well as intercultural relations and social class.