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A Tale of Casas Grandes
by Kathleen Alcala
When the tale opens in the 1870s in a village in northern Mexico, the Caraval family has long been clandestine Jews.
To the dismay of his parents, however, Zacarias abandons religion and wanders in the desert, searching for gold.
At home in Saltillo, his wife Estela takes the rare and bold step of declaring herself independent from her husband and raises their children on her own. But as she takes a lover and tries to make her own path, she learns that the time-honored traditions of Saltillo can be tested only so far. Her young brother and sister, androgynous twins with unsettling powers, have already been banished north of the border, where many of the novel's events unfold.
Central to the surprising destinies of these characters, and perhaps even to the future of Mexico, are the momentous events at the ancient and sacred cliff dwellings of Casas Grandes.
"Readers will be happy to learn that this enchanting episode is the first of a trilogy." —Publishers Weekly
"An extraordinary debut, this tale of ordinary people in pursuit of honor, decency, and cultural connection is sure to resonate. Highly recommended." —Library Journal
"Alcalahas conjured a culturally and metaphysically complex world, animated by an irresistible cast of impassioned characters." —Booklist
"Some characters seem more decorative than essential, but, still, Alcal offers a beautifully imagined if quiet portrait of the insistent urgings of the human spirit." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about Spirits of the Ordinary was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kathleen Alcalá's life is all about stories. She is the author of four works of fiction – Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist; Spirits of the Ordinary; The Flower in the Skull; and Treasures in Heaven – and a collection of essays. Her work is the recipient of a Governor's Writers Award, the Washington State Book Award, a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, and a Western States Book Award, among others. Kathleen teaches Creative Writing in the Low Residency MFA program at the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts on Whidbey Island. Two of her stories are included in the recent Norton Anthology of Latino Literature. More at www.kathleenalcala.com.
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