3.5
The Witches of El Paso
By Luis JaramilloPublisher Description
“Luis Jaramillo weaves a captivating tale of family, tradition, and the enduring power of love.” —Reyna Grande, author of A Ballad of Love and Glory
A lawyer and her elderly great-aunt use their supernatural gifts to find a lost child in this “wild, wondrous novel about the magic that is singing all around us” (Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth)—in the vein of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and La Hacienda.
If you call to the witches, they will come.
1943, El Paso, Texas: teenager Nena spends her days caring for the small children of her older sisters and longing for a life of adventure. The premonitions and fainting spells she has endured since childhood are getting worse, and Nena worries she’ll end up like the scary old curandera down the street. Nena prays for help, and when the mysterious Sister Benedicta arrives late one night, Nena follows her across the borders of space and time. In colonial Mexico, Nena grows into her power, finding love and learning that magic always comes with a price.
In the present day, Nena’s grandniece, Marta, balances a struggling legal aid practice with motherhood and the care of the now ninety-three-year-old Nena. When Marta agrees to help search for a daughter Nena left in the past, the two forge a fierce connection. Marta’s own supernatural powers emerge, awakening her to new possibilities that threaten the life she has constructed.
“Sexy, smart, and soulful, Luis Jaramillo’s The Witches of El Paso pulls us across borders and time to get to the essence of what it means for families to survive this beautiful, fractured world” (Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk).
A lawyer and her elderly great-aunt use their supernatural gifts to find a lost child in this “wild, wondrous novel about the magic that is singing all around us” (Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth)—in the vein of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and La Hacienda.
If you call to the witches, they will come.
1943, El Paso, Texas: teenager Nena spends her days caring for the small children of her older sisters and longing for a life of adventure. The premonitions and fainting spells she has endured since childhood are getting worse, and Nena worries she’ll end up like the scary old curandera down the street. Nena prays for help, and when the mysterious Sister Benedicta arrives late one night, Nena follows her across the borders of space and time. In colonial Mexico, Nena grows into her power, finding love and learning that magic always comes with a price.
In the present day, Nena’s grandniece, Marta, balances a struggling legal aid practice with motherhood and the care of the now ninety-three-year-old Nena. When Marta agrees to help search for a daughter Nena left in the past, the two forge a fierce connection. Marta’s own supernatural powers emerge, awakening her to new possibilities that threaten the life she has constructed.
“Sexy, smart, and soulful, Luis Jaramillo’s The Witches of El Paso pulls us across borders and time to get to the essence of what it means for families to survive this beautiful, fractured world” (Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk).
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities86 Reviews
3.5
Sara Eaton
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Bee McVee
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“I enjoyed this book for two reasons. First, we lived in El Paso for several years so the incorporation of so many real world places made this book even more interesting to me. Second, magical realism is such a difficult genre to read and sometimes the story lines become difficult to follow. That was not the case with this book. Engaging characters, realistic setting, cautionary tales and a sad but also bittersweet ending. 4/5 ⭐️ ❤️”Tams
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Sadiya Bano
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“The Witches of El Paso” is a novel about migration — across time, space, people, and countries. The characters, the most substantive of whom are women, are thrust into the 18th, 20th, and 21st centuries from Mexico to the United States and back.
Jaramillo's family, from his father's side, is from El Paso. Although he spent most of his childhood in California, he visited El Paso often since his father grew up in the Borderland
Country United States
State Texas
County El Paso
First settlement 1680
Overall Pretty Good 🦋”About Luis Jaramillo
Luis Jaramillo is the author of The Witches of El Paso and the award-winning short story collection, The Doctor’s Wife. His writing has appeared in LitHub, BOMB Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, and other publications. He is an assistant professor of creative writing at The New School. He received an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and an MFA from The New School. Find out more at LuisJaramillo.com.
Other books by Luis Jaramillo
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