Author: Marcela Fuentes

Publisher: PRH Grupo Editorial

Description:

In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguierre in the small boarder town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family.

More than forty years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father’s moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives alone and shunned on the edge of town.

Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past. As the quinceañera looms—and we move between these two strong, irascible female voices—one woman must make peace with the past, and one girl pushes to embrace her future.

Rich with cinematic details—from dusty rodeos to the excitement of a Selena concert and the comfort of conjunto ballads played at family gatherings—this memorable debut is a love letter to the Tejano culture and community that sustain both of these women as they discover what family means.

Description copied from: PRH Grupo Editorial

Patty's Pick:  I love this story and how the writer incorporates so many representations of the Tejano and Mexican-American culture. I especially loved that Marcela Fuentes included our Tejano Queen, Selena Quintanilla. The details are so immersive that I could visualize myself there and feeling the dust, heat and music of the times. I so look forward to her next novel but also getting the opportunity to hear her insights into the story and our culture.