The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, 3)
Deborah Harkness, 2014
Viking Adult
576 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780670025596
Summary
After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies.
At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency.
In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.
With more than one million copies sold in the United States and appearing in thirty-eight foreign editions, A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night have landed on all of the major bestseller lists and garnered rave reviews from countless publications. Eagerly awaited by Harkness’s legion of fans, The Book of Life brings this superbly written series to a deeply satisfying close. (From the publisher.)
A Discovery of Witches is the first book in the All Souls Trilogy; Shadow of Night is the second.
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—near Philadelphia, PA, USA
• Education—B.A., Mount Holyoke College; M.A., Northwestern University; Ph.D., University of California-Davis
• Currently—lives in southern California
Deborah Harkness is a professor of history at the University of Southern California. She has received Fullbright, Guggenheim, and National Humanities Center fellowships, and her most recent scholarly work is The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution. She also writes an award-winning wine blog, Good Wine Under $20. (From the publisher.)
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In her own words
I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and have lived in western Massachusetts, the Chicago area, Northern California, upstate New York, and Southern California. In other words, I’ve lived in three out of five time zones in the US! I’ve also lived in the United Kingdom in the cities of Oxford and London.
For the past twenty-eight years I’ve been a student and scholar of history, and received degrees from Mount Holyoke College, Northwestern University, and the University of California at Davis. During that time I researched the history of magic and science in Europe, especially during the period from 1500 to 1700.
The libraries I’ve worked in include Oxford’s Bodleian Library, the All Souls College Library at Oxford, the British Library, London’s Guildhall Library, the Henry E. Huntington Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Newberry Library—proving that I know my way around a card catalogue or the computerized equivalent. These experiences have given me a deep and abiding love of libraries and a deep respect for librarians. Currently, I teach European history and the history of science at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
My previous books include two works of non-fiction: John Dee’s Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press, 1999) and The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution (Yale University Press, 2007). It has been my privilege to receive fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Humanities Center. And I was honored to receive accolades for my historical work from the History of Science Society, the North American Conference on British Studies, and the Longman’s/History Today Prize Committee.
In 2006, I took up my keyboard and entered the world of blogging and Twitter. My wine blog, Good Wine Under $20, is an online record of my search for the best, most affordable wines. These efforts have been applauded by the American Wine Blog Awards, Saveur.com, Wine & Spirits magazine, and Food & Wine magazine. My wine writing has also appeared on the website Serious Eats and in Wine & Spirits magazine. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
There is no shortage of action in this sprawling sequel, and nearly every chapter brings a wrinkle to the tale. The storytelling is lively and energetic, and Diana remains an appealing heroine even as her life becomes ever more extraordinary. A delightful wrap-up to the trilogy.
Publishers Weekly
The adventure never lets up.... History, science, and the unpredictable actions of paranormal characters with hidden agendas all swirl together to create a not-to-be-missed finale to a stellar series.
Library Journal
Harkness herself proves to be quite the alchemist as she combines elements of magic, history, romance, and science, transforming them into a compelling journey through time, space, and geography. By bridging the gaps between Harry Potter, Twilight, and Outlander fans, Harkness artfully appeals to a broad range of fantasy lovers.
Booklist
The witch Diana’s and the vampire Matthew’s quests to discover their origins and confront the threats to their star-crossed union tie up as neatly as one of Diana’s magical weaver’s knots.... It’s still satisfying to travel with these characters toward their more-than-well-earned happy ending.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Throughout The Book of Life, the ghosts of Philippe de Clermont and Emily Mather observe what their loved ones are doing in the world of the living. Have you ever felt the protective presence of friends or family who have passed on?
2. Although we don’t meet Matthew’s nephew Gallowglass until Shadow of the Night, we learn that—under orders from Philippe—he has been protecting Diana from afar since she was born. We also learn that Gallowglass has fallen deeply in love with Diana. How did this knowledge affect your opinion of him? Are there ways in which he might have made Diana a better mate than Matthew?
3. After they meet at Sotheby’s in Shadow of Night, Marcus and Phoebe fall in love. Phoebe agrees to become a vampire in order to become a near immortal like Marcus. Compare her decision to Diana’s decision to remain a warmblood. What are the pluses and minuses of each woman’s choice?
4. Advances in genetics have now made it possible for us to learn if we carry genes for a variety of heritable diseases. Would knowing that your romantic partner was a carrier for something as potentially dangerous as blood rage prevent you from marrying and/or having children with him or her?
5. Matthew’s centuries-old decision to let Benjamin live set in motion a chain of events that threatens Diana as well as their newborn twins. To what extent is Matthew responsible for the suffering that Benjamin has caused?
6. Several characters from earlier in the series return to play a part in the final volume, including Jack, Father Hubbard, and Timothy Weston—the daemon from the Bodleian. Whose reappearance astonished you the most? Whose absence did you find most painful?
7. After his violent confrontation with Matthew at the twins’ naming ceremony, Baldwin transforms from imperious bully to gracious brother. If you were Diana, would you be able to forgive him for his earlier behavior?
8. Matthew deliberately walks into Benjamin’s trap, initiating the Queen’s Gambit, a chess move that he habitually avoids in order to protect his queen. In this case, he puts his queen—Diana—into play against Benjamin. Were you surprised by Matthew’s decision? Would it have been possible to overcome Benjamin if Matthew hadn’t allowed Diana to risk her life?
9. The de Clermonts eventually discover that Gerbert—the vampire who led the congregation in denouncing Matthew and Diana’s relationships—had himself been consorting with witches and daemons for centuries. Unfortunately, the news is full of illegal and often hypocritical acts committed by people in positions of power. Do you think that it’s power that corrupts, or are the corrupt more inclined than most to seek power?
10. What do you think the future holds for Matthew and Diana? Which characters from the series would you like to have learned more about?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
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The Last Goodbye
Caroline Finnerty, 2014
Poolbeg Press
360 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781842236185
Summary
Sometimes the decisions we make can last a lifetime . . . and sometimes we cannot shake off the shackles of decisions made by others in the past.
Kate Flynn has spent her whole life running away. She reckons the best decision she ever made was to leave Ireland the day after she finished school. Having seldom returned since, she would be perfectly happy if she never had to go back there. She is happy in London where she runs a successful photography gallery with her best friend Nat, though their relationship is going through a rocky patch since Nat began an affair with a married man.
When Kate becomes pregnant and her partner Ben persuades her to make the trip home, she is forced to confront everything she left behind and memories of Eva, the mother she feels betrayed her. Kate finds it impossible to forgive Eva who chose to refuse cancer treatment while pregnant and died, leaving a young family motherless.
Do some wounds go too deep to ever heal? Must Eva's Choice forever deny Kate real happiness?
The Last Goodbye is a powerful story of love and loss, forgiveness and new beginnings—a heart-wrenching and emotional page-turner for mothers and daughters everywhere. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—November 6, 1980
• Where—Kildare, Ireland
• Education—N/A
• Currently—Kildare, Ireland
Caroline Finnerty is an Irish author and freelance writer living on the banks of the Grand Canal in the County Kildare countryside with her husband, their three young children and their dog. She is the author of In a Moment, The Last Goodbye, and Into the Night Sky. She also compiled the charity anthology If I Was a Child Again in aid of Barnardos.
Caroline has written articles for The Irish Daily Mail, The Star, Woman’s Way Magazine, as well as several parenting magazines. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Caroline on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Wonderfully drawn and intensely moving.
Irish Independent
Any author who can have her readers rooting for a heroine as headstrong, stubborn and bloody-minded as Finnerty’s deserves credit; with The Last Goodbye she merits praise indeed.
Independent Living
Discussion Questions
1. Eva is faced with a deeply difficult dilemma. Do you think that Eva’s decision was selfless? Do you think she considered the needs of her three older children adequately?
2. Do you believe that the tendency to put a child’s needs before our own, is a trait unique to mothers?
3. Kate still carries a lot of anger towards her mother but do you think Kate is more similar to her mother than she would like to admit? What characteristics do they share?
4. What are your feelings about Nat’s relationship with Will?
5. Do you agree with Kate’s assertion that there are lots of "ones" out there for us or would you agree with Nat’s more romantic view that you can love a lot of people but that there is an ultimate one out there for all of us?
6. Do you think Will made the right decision to choose his marriage and his family’s well being over a future with Nat?
7. Ben has a difficult and problematic relationship with his father. How damaging do you think the weight of a parent’s expectations can be on a child?
8. What did you think of Aoife’s relationship with her grandmother Josephine?
9. What did you think of Noel’s relationship with Aoife? Do you think that he should have raised her with her brothers or was he right to let her stay with Josephine as happens in the story?
10. What were your feelings towards Kate at the start of the novel? Did they change towards the end?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
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Prime Deception
Carys Jones, 2014
Carina UK
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781472094728
Summary
When Lorna Thomas is found dead in her car everyone believes she killed herself. But the day after her death Lorna was set to sell a scandalous story to one of Britain’s biggest tabloid papers. For six months she had been the Deputy Prime Minister’s mistress.
Will Lorna’s secret die with her? While her family try to move on and come to terms with her death one person refuses to believe that Lorna killed herself. Her twin sister, Laurie is convinced that Lorna was murdered and she’ll stop at nothing to prove it, even if that means teaming up the very man her sister had been having an affair with...
Author Bio
• Birth—December 1985
• Where—Shrewsbury, England, UK
• Education—B.A., University of Wolverhampton
• Currently—lives in Shropshire, England
Carys Jones loves nothing more than to write and create stories which ignite the reader's imagination. Based in Shropshire, England, Carys lives with her husband, two guinea pigs and her adored canine companion Rollo.
When she's not writing, Carys likes to indulge her inner geek by watching science- fiction films or playing video games.
She lists John Green, Jodi Picoult and Virginia Andrews as her favorite authors and draws inspiration for her own work from anything and everything.
To Carys, there is no greater feeling then when you lose yourself in a great story and it is that feeling of ultimate escapism which she tries to bring to her books. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Carys on Facebook.
Book Reviews
I had a blast reading this, and it made me really miss the days when I would sit down and devour a mystery in a few sittings
Kookie Krysp.com
Prime Deception is an amazing read from Carys, I enjoyed every page and found it incredibly hard to put it down
Sabina's Adventures in Reading.blogspot.com
If you like writing with flair and passion, then Jones ticks both boxes. The work of a young author who writes with conviction and authority.
Crime Fiction Lover.com
Discussion Questions
1. Which character did you feel that you related to the most?
2. Were you satisfied with the ending or were you left with more questions?
3. What were your feelings about Lorna as she exists only posthumously in the book?
4. Do you have a favorite passage/scene from the book?
5. If you could ask the author one question, what would it be?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
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How Angels Die
David-Michael Harding, 2011
Q&CY Books
420 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780615503325
Summary
In the darkest days of World War II, when France found itself at the mercy of a brutal dictator, the frontlines of resistance may just have been in the grasp of a few good women.
How Angels Die, the epic work of historical fiction by author David-Michael Harding, delivers a highly inventive and uncommon take on the French Resistance that is certain to appeal to anyone who relishes a blood-pumping drama, which also sheds searing new light on the astounding bravery, profound passion, and razor-sharp cunning of the fairer sex during the most trying times.
In four fateful days, two remarkable sisters, Monique and Claire McCleash, battle the German occupation of their coastal French town in the early days of June 1944. While their mission is the same, their methods of upending the occupation are irreconcilably at odds. The strikingly beautiful Monique puts her body and wit to work for the Resistance by dating and sleeping with German officers; her younger sister Claire elects instead to serve as an active combat guerilla fighter for the cause.
Brimming with high drama that is punctuated by family humor, How Angels Die lifts the veil on a lesser-known side of the French Resistance. Through the prism of two intrepid women, the novel illuminates how these women employ their formidable assets and fierce love of country to face down a vicious enemy.
With page-turning action, unstoppable passion, and historical accuracy, this heart-racing novel is a must-read for sisters, history buffs, and action enthusiasts alike. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 4, 1958
• Where—Waverly, New York, USA
• Education—M.A., Elmira College
• Currently—lives in Tampa, Florida
David-Michael Harding is a life-long writer whose work has appeared in national publications and has been recognized by the international writing community. He is a collegiate writing instructor and former semi-professional football player. His experiences provide readers with well researched, crushing fast-paced action. Most of his days are spent writing from the cockpit of his sailboat, Pegasus, somewhere off the Nature Coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. (From the publisher.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow David-Michael on Facebook.
Book Reviews
In How Angels Die. Harding delivers an edge of the seat read as he skillfully summarizes the events and pain of years of conflict during the Nazi occupation of France into ninety-six gut wrenching, mesmerizing hours.
David Roth, Tampa Writing Examiner
A brilliantly written account of life in France during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Characters are believable and sympathetic—each caught in abnormal everyday living in the time of war. The plot spares the reader none of the horrors of the years of the French Resistance. The story's ending is powerful and unforgettable as the reader learns of the bravery of people now long forgotten.
Readers Favorite
Tells the story of two sisters who dared stand against Hitler's regime in World War II, taking their own paths to thwart the German occupation in June of 1944. Even as they work towards the same goals, they find themselves at odds in many ways, as David Harding writes a story of intrigue through war, politics, and family. How Angels Die is a riveting tale that should prove hard to put down.
Midwest Book Review
Terrific book and historical fiction at its best! Set in France during WWII, we learn of life during the Nazi occupation. I loved the characters and we became fast friends. I laughed with them and I cried with them. Mostly I cheered them on in their courageous work in the French Resistance. It was a page turner with plenty of action and drama. Ending is very satisfying. You won't be disappointed.
Reading Room
This book is incredible! The main story revolves around two sisters and how they both work for two very different sides of the resistance. I found this book very easy to read and hard to put down. David Michael Harding has a unique way of storytelling that read very much like a movie. I would highly recommend reading this book.
Life Improvement Radio
Not just another WWII story; it's about how individuals & united groups give all they are to a common cause out of pure love. It’s not a fantasy tale or contrived story; it's a well-research realistic viewpoint celebrating cost of ensuring evil won’t prevail in history's unfortunately too frequent travesties of justice & fair treatment! Awesome, amazing, & deserving of best-seller status!
The Best Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Consider Monique and Claire as characters—what are their personality traits, motivations, inner qualities, external qualities/talents? Why do they do what they do? Are their actions justified? Now change whose definition of 'justified’ you are using. Try theirs. Their parents. Yours. Do you admire or disapprove of the sisters’ tactics for the Resistance? Why?
2. Explore & describe the dynamics between the sisters. Between each sister and the other Resistance fighters. Between each sister and their parents.
3. How do Monique and Claire change throughout the novel? Where does the change happen and what drives it?
4. You are Estelle’s neighbor. What advice would you have shared with her over tea and stitching uniforms to help her with her relationship with Claire? Given Estelle’s clandestine role, what could she have done to bolster her relationship with Claire?
5. Consider the novel’s plotlines and structure. Are the relationships, events, and circumstances that tie Paul & Valerie to the primary story line plausible? Consistent? Engaging? How do you feel about Paul and what would you have said or done to help him?
6. Are there particular lines of dialogue or passages that encapsulate a character for you? Is it a subtle or foreshadowing effect, or an "in your face" point?
7. Could you relate to the sisters’ snipping/biting dialogue they reserved only for each other? Why does Claire come to mask her love for her sister?
8. What is the significance of Sean’s pipes?
9. Comment on Estelle’s line below from the big blow out at the McCleash house following Claire’s raid. (Hard copy page 217). “Which stays on your soul? Which stains the hands of our daughters more, the killing or the sex?” Does this reflect the main theme of the story? Is it the sin, the contrition, or the redemption that makes a story—makes a life?
10. Did you suspect Monique's big secret?
11. Describe the reading experience. Were you engaged immediately, or did it take you a while to "get into it"? Did the characters and story stay with you after the reading?
12. If you could ask the author a question, what would it be? Have you read other books by the same author? If so how does this book compare. If not, does this book inspire you to read others?
13. Have you learned anything in the reading of How Angels Die? Historically or more personal?
14. Movie time: who would you like to see play what part?
(Questions courtesy of author and publisher.)
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When the Spirits Dance mambo: Growing Up Nuyorican in El Barrio
Marta Moreno Vega, 2003
Crown Publishing
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781400049240
Summary
When rock and roll was transforming American culture in the 1950s and ’60s, East Harlem pulsed with the sounds of mambo and merengue.
Instead of Elvis and the Beatles, Marta Moreno Vega grew up worshipping Celia Cruz, Mario Bauza, and Arsenio Rodriguez. Their music could be heard on every radio in El Barrio and from the main stage at the legendary Palladium, where every weekend working-class kids dressed in their sharpest suits and highest heels and became mambo kings and queens.
Spanish Harlem was a vibrant and dynamic world, but it was also a place of constant change, where the traditions of Puerto Rican parents clashed with their children’s American ideals.
A precocious little girl with wildly curly hair, Marta was the baby of the family and the favorite of her elderly abuela, who lived in the apartment down the hall. Abuela Luisa was the spiritual center of the family, an espiritista who smoked cigars and honored the Afro-Caribbean deities who had always protected their family. But it was Marta’s brother, Chachito, who taught her the latest dance steps and called her from the pay phone at the Palladium at night so she could listen, huddled beneath the bedcovers, to the seductive rhythms of Tito Puente and his orchestra.
In this luminous and lively memoir, Marta Moreno Vega calls forth the spirit of Puerto Rican New York and the music, mysticism, and traditions of a remarkable and quintessentially American childhood. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1942
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., M.A., New York University; Ph.D., Temple University
• Currently—lives in New York, New York
Marta Moreno Vega, Ph.D., has served as an assistant professor at the City University of New York's Baruch College. She is founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and Amigos del Museo del Barrio. She has curated major visual arts exhibitions, including "Santeria and Vodun in the Americas," and organized three international conferences on "Orisha Tradition and Culture. (From the publisher and Encyclopedia.com.)
Follow Dr. Vega on Facebook.
Book Reviews
In this vivid work..., two tales flawlessly merge: one recalls an Afro–Puerto Rican girl's upbringing in 1950s Spanish Harlem; the other explains the background for the author's eventual status as a priestess of the Santeria/Lucumi religion.... The spiritual and musical journey Vega takes readers on is informative and inspiring, even for the uninitiated
Publishers Weekly
(Adult/High School) Smart and perceptive, [Cotito] became a strong young woman, and worked steadily toward her goal of becoming a teacher..... While rejecting the negative, she embraced the many positive aspects of her heritage and the love of her family.... A vibrant, honest coming-of-age memoir that celebrates culture and community. —Sandy Freund, Richard Byrd Library, Fairfax County, VA
School Library Journal
Vega's passionate memoir of growing up in 1950s Spanish Harlem expresses both the burdens and joys of her Puerto Rican heritage.... [S]ome clunky phrasings ("Memories are the musical notes that form the composition of our souls") suggest that Vega's training in writing has been secondary to her work as a scholar and priestess of Santeria. Still, readers...will find the experiences limned here affecting. —Jennifer Mattson
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. Abuela tells Cotito the heartbreaking story of being rejected by her own mother because of her skin color. How has this tragedy, and the experience of being raised by her grandmother, Maria de la O, affected Abuela’s life and attitudes as an adult?
2. Cotito is fascinated by the photograph of her grandmother as a young woman, sailing alone to New York. In the photo, Abuela wears a borrowed dress, carries a borrowed suitcase, and watches her gorgeous country slide away from the hold of a ship built "like an enormous metal coffin." She describes this young Abuela as "the woman at the crossroads." In what ways is Cotito herself a young "woman at a crossroads"? What borrowed burdens does she carry, and which ones does she shed in the course of the memoir? What is her "coffin"?
3. What does the drama with Alma in the botanica teach Cotito about male/female relationships? How do the neighbors’ attitudes toward Alma contrast with Abuela’s approach? Why doesn’t Cotito question the strange events she witnesses that day?
4. When Papi decides to take the family to Rockaway Beach instead of their usual destination, Orchard Beach—nicknamed "the Puerto Rican Riviera"—Cotito suffers her first bout of self-hatred and embarrassment about her family’s ethnic ways. She is acutely aware of the spectacle they create by cooking on the beach while other families quietly enjoy "sandwiches neatly packed in plastic bags and picnic baskets with fruit." What defining moment does her meltdown lead to back at the apartment? How does it polarize the family?
5. What conflicting advice do Mami and Chachita give Cotito when she gets her first period? Do you agree with Chachita’s assessment that by keeping information at a minimum, Mami "just wants us to stay her babies. She’s trying to stop us from growing up"? Is it that simple?
6. Cotito receives mixed messages about love from her neighbors in El Barrio. When one man stalks his wife in a jealous rage, paranoid that she is cheating on him, Cotito concludes, "this, I supposed, was love." When Mami enrages Papi by taking driving lessons against his wishes, Cotito overhears her mother’s nervous telephone conversation with a friend: "‘He just loves me too much. That’s why he doesn’t want me to work or go out.’ The thrill in her voice suggested that somehow my father’s anger was an expression of his love." How does Cotito interpret these jarring lessons as she moves into young adulthood?
7. Cotito is repeatedly warned not to talk to Teresa, the neighborhood prostitute. Yet Teresa is summoned by all the neighborhood women when they require help with gowns, makeup, hairdressing, or anything uniquely feminine and presentational. How does this paradox reflect the conflicted way in which the women of El Barrio deal with their sexuality? Why does Teresa’s power over her own body frighten them? Why does Papi allow a prostitute to prepare his daughter for her wedding day?
8. How does the influx of drugs into El Barrio contribute to Abuela’s decline?
9. While Chachita struggles desperately against her parents’ attempt to determine her future for her, and ultimately caves in to their pressure, Cotito strikes out on her own with little resistance other than mild verbal sparring. Why are their experiences so different?
10. Chapter ten opens with: "There is a point in every life when a confluence of forces sets your destiny in motion." What are these events? How does Cotito’s acceptance to the Music and Art High School open her eyes to her mother’s repressed dreams? What gives her the strength to defy her mother’s wishes?
11. As Cotito approaches school for the very first time as a child, she is eager for everyone in El Barrio "to bear witness to how special I looked on my first day of school." How is her sense of pride challenged immediately upon arriving? How does this episode foreshadow her experience at the Music and Art High School years later?
12. Cotito is repeatedly struck by the contrasting ways in which her siblings’ budding sexuality is greeted by their parents. Mami and Papi "encouraged Chachito’s philandering," in part because it banishes any fear of homosexuality and in part because his robust manhood is a continual source of pride. Chachita, on the other hand, is violently castigated for her interest in the opposite sex: "It was as if, just in becoming a woman, she had wounded [Papi] with a knife." Do these conflicting attitudes toward young men and women still exist in the Puerto Rican community today?
13. Immersed in the power of music, Cotito experiences an epiphany about her future while attending a concert of Palladium greats at the Apollo along with her brother. What is this revelation? How does her experience of music differ from her brother’s? From Abuela’s? Are their three distinct experiences equally spiritual?
14. As a girl, Cotito’s ideal of womanhood is a composite of the seductive sensuality of Saint Marta la Dominadora, the powerful legs of Katherine Dunham, the enticing smile of Dorothy Dandridge, the piercing eyes of Abuela, and the sexy hauteur of her brother’s many girlfriends. What features of her own do you imagine the adult Marta Moreno Vega has added to this intoxicating mix?
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
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