Book description
"It is a great beauty of a book, and I am so proud of you for standing with and for the disappeared. A sister, a lover, a witness."
--Alice Walker
Mary is nineteen and living alone in Albuquerque. Adrift in the wake of her mother's death, she longs for something…
Why read it?
1 author picked Mother Tongue as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Many books about New Mexico describe the region as if it were a place unto itself, distinct from the rest of the nation and the world.
Martínez’s novel follows Central American refugees during the 1970s and 1980s who made their way to the state as a part of the sanctuary movement in which Martínez herself participated. I love the depictions of Albuquerque apartments, which capture the sparse, yearning beauty of relationships formed across barriers of language, culture, and violence.
From Flannery's list on creative writing to understand the complexities of New Mexico’s culture.
If you love Mother Tongue...
These Blue Mountains
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
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