JULIA ALVAREZ

A "phenomenal, indispensable" (USA Today) exploration of the Latina "sweet fifteen" celebration, by the bestselling author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents The quinceañera, a celebration of a Latina girl''s fifteenth birthday, has become a uniquely American trend. This lavish party with ball gowns, multi-tiered cakes, limousines, and extravagant meals is often as costly as a prom or a wedding. But many Latina girls feel entitled to this rite of passage, marking a girl''s entrance into womanhood, and expect no expense to be spared, even in working-class families. Acclaimed author Julia Alvarez explores the history and cultural significance of the "quince" in the United States, and the consequences of treating teens like princesses. Through her observations of a quince in Queens, interviews with other quince girls, and the memories of her own experience as a young immigrant, Alvarez presents a thoughtful and entertaining portrait of a rapidly growing multicultural phenomenon, and passionately emphasizes the importance of celebrating Latina womanhood.

Una escritora descubre las similitudes sorprendentes entre su propia existencia y la historia de una valiente mujer del siglo XIX, doña Isabel Sendales y Gómez, quien junto con 22 huérfanos acompañara al doctor Francisco Xavier Balmis en la Real expedicion de la viruela. Los niños, inoculados con el virus, atravesaran el oceano para hacer llegar la vacuna a las tierras de America. La determinacion y el valor de doña Isabel son fuente de inspiracion para Alma Huebner, quien poco a poco se obsesiona con los detalles de la aventura de esta mujer ejemplar.

Joe vive en Nebraska; siempre ha querido ser agricultor. Sin embargo, su padre debe vender las tierras para pagar las deudas. Entonces decide ser profesor. Poco a poco, se siente más y más perdido: su vida carece de rumbo. Se casa, pero al poco tiempo se separa. Sin ningun horizonte, decide irse de vacaciones a la Republica Dominicana. Alli tomara un cafe que cambiara su vida: la propietaria le lee el poso y le vaticina una vida nueva, cerca de montañas y de aves. Poco a poco empieza a entender la tragedia de los campesinos: acostumbrados a cultivar el cafe al modo antiguo, ahora se ven obligados a vender sus tierras porque no pueden competir con los grandes propietarios, quienes consiguen mejores precios, industrializando el cultivo del cafe. Joe ha entendido que su vida esta aqui.

Gracias a la magia y al poder de la imaginación de la escritora Julia Álvarez, las Mariposas recobran su fuerza en una novela deslumbrante y conmovedora.

Mujer fuerte, siempre en lucha contra la adversidad, Salomé Ureña inspiró una revolución con su poesía y abrió el camino de la educación para las mujeres de su país. Ni en los momentos aciagos cedió en sus empeños, aunque íntimamente se preguntara: ¿qué es la patria? ¿qué es esta idea de la nación que empuja a tantos a dar la vida por su liberación, para que luego otras la vuelvan a encadenar?

Este libro cuenta la deliciosa historia de una familia dominicana, instalada en Vermont, que recibe la visita de una pariente muy especial. La irresistible, incontrolable e incluso mágica Tía Lola transforma la vida de su familia. Sombreros, pañuelos, vestidos alegres, tacones, maracas, cafe, hierbabuena, oregano, anis..., su alegria invade la casa y, poco a poco, a todo un pueblo. Una narracion rica, calida, llena de humor que nos llevara a soñar con la posibilidad de tener una tia tan entrañable como Tia Lola.

El 25 de noviembre de 1960 se encontraron, al pie de un risco en la costa dominicana, los cuerpos sin vida de tres muchachas. Según la versión oficial, se trataba de un accidente, y ningún diario publico la verdad: las tres hermanas Mirabal, luchaban contra el violento regimen dictatorial del general Trujillo, y una cuarta hermana, Dede, narra la apasionante historia de su lucha en una novela llena de magia y poder de imaginacion. Encuadernacion: Cartone.

Julia AlvarezJulia Alvarez's brilliant first book of fiction sets the Garcia girls free to tell their irrepressibly intimate stories about how they came to be at home -- and not at home -- in America. "A warm, honest rendering of family life." --Elle Magazine "She has beautifully captured the threshold experience of the new immigrant." --New York Times Book Review

¿Quién es Yo? ¿Una temible escritora que ejerce su oficio a pesar de la realidad de sus personajes? ¿Una invención de sí misma o una personalidad buscándose desesperadamente en otra cultura y en los demas? En ¡Yo! se aprecia el otro perfil de toda historia: la ficcion que logra escapar al creador para revelarse sobre el claro lienzo de una realidad siempre aterradora. Quiza Yolanda Garcia sea la unica que logra escapar de la imaginacion, ademas de ser la entrañable protagonista de la tercera novela de Julia Alvarez, que a la par que De como las chicas Garcia perdieron su acento, con ¡Yo! se ha asegurado un nuevo exito.

El 25 de noviembre de 1960 se encontraron, al pie de un risco en la costa dominicana, los cuerpos sin vida de tres muchachas. Según la versión oficial, se trataba de un accidente, y ningún diario público la verdad: las tres hermanas Mirabal, conocidas como las Mariposas, luchaban contra el violento regimen dictatorial del general Trujillo, y una cuarta hermana, Dede, seguia con vida. Tres decadas despues, Dede narra la apasionante historia de su lucha: las represarias que cayeron sobre su familia cuando Minerva rechazo en publico el acosos sexual de Trujillo, como Patria se unio al movimiento opositor desde la iglesia y el camino que llevo a Maria Teresa del amor a la revolucion. Graciasa la magia y al poder de la imaginacion de la escritora Julia Alvarez, las Mariposas recobran su fuerza en una novela deslumbrante y conmovedora.

A través de quince relatos relacionados entre sí, la autora retrata la vida de una familia dominicana exiliada en el Bronx neoyorquino. Las cuatro hijas, las García del título, intentan adaptarse a su nuevo pais y se rebelan contra sus mayores.

Julia Alvarez has suitcases full of history (public and private), trunks full of insights into what it means to be a Latina in the United States, bags full of literary wisdom. Los Angeles Times From the internationally acclaimed author of the bestselling novels In the Time of the Butterflies and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents comes a rich and revealing work of nonfiction capturing the life and mind of an artist as she knits together the dual themes of coming to America and becoming a writer. The twenty-four confessional, evocative essays that make up Something to Declare are divided into two parts. Customs includes Alvarezs memories of her familys life in the Dominican Republic, fleeing from Trujillos dictatorship, and arriving in America when she was ten years old. She examines the effects of exile--surviving the shock of New York City life; yearning to fit in; training her tongue (and her mind) to speak English; and watching the Miss America pageant for clues about American-style beauty. The second half, Declarations, celebrates her passion for words and the writing life. She lets us watch as she struggles with her art--searching for a subject for her next novel, confronting her characters, facing her familys anger when she invades their privacy, reflecting on the writers who influenced her, and continually honing her craft. The winner of the National Medal of Arts for her extraordinary storytelling, Julia Alvarez here offers essays that are an inspiring gift to readers and writers everywhere.This beautiful collection of essays . . . traces a process of personal reconciliation with insight, humor, and quiet power. San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle Reading Julia Alvarezs new collection of essays is like curling up with a glass of wine in one hand and the phone in the other, listening to a bighearted, wisecracking friend share the hard-earned wisdom about family, identity, and the art of writing. PeopleJulia Alvarezs new novel, Afterlife, is available now.

Latina novelist Alma Huebner is suffering from writers block and is years past the completion date for yet another of her bestselling family sagas. Her husband, Richard, works for a humanitarian organization dedicated to the health and prosperity of developing countries and wants her help on an extended AIDS assignment in the Dominican Republic. But Alma begs off joining him: the publisher is breathing down her neck. She promises to work hard and follow him a bit later. The truth is that Alma is seriously sidetracked by a story she has stumbled across. Its the story of a much earlier medical do-gooder, Spaniard Francisco Xavier Balmis, who in 1803 undertook to vaccinate the populations of Spains American colonies against smallpox. To do this, he required live "carriers" of the vaccine. Of greater interest to Alma is Isabel Sendales y Gomez, director of La Casa de Expositos, who was asked to select twenty-two orphan boys to be the vaccine carriers. She agreed with the stipulation that she would accompany the boys on the proposed two-year voyage. Her strength and courage inspire Alma, who finds herself becoming obsessed with the details of Isabels adventures. This resplendent novel-within-a-novel spins the disparate tales of two remarkable women, both of whom are swept along by machismo. In depicting their confrontation of the great scourges of their respective eras, Alvarez exposes the conflict between altruism and ambition.

[A] beguiling memoir of family and culture.O, The Oprah Magazine In a story that travels beyond borders and between families, acclaimed Dominican novelist and poet Julia Alvarez reflects on the joys and burdens of lovefor her parents, for her husband, and for a young Haitian boy known as Piti. In this intimate true account of a promise kept, Alvarez takes us on a journey into experiences that challenge our way of thinking about history and how it can be reimagined when people from two countriestraditional enemies and strangersbecome friends.Julia Alvarezs new novel, Afterlife, is available now.

"Original and illuminating."The New York Times Book Review In her most ambitious work since In the Time of Butterflies, Julia Alvarez tells the story of a woman whose poetry inspired one Caribbean revolution and of her daughter whose dedication to teaching strengthened another. Camila Henriquez Urena is about to retire from her longtime job teaching Spanish at Vassar College. Only now as she sorts through family papers does she begin to know the woman behind the legend of her mother, the revered Salome Urena, who died when Camila was three.In stark contrast to Salome, who became the Dominican Republics national poet at the age of seventeen, Camila has spent most of her life trying not to offend anybody. Her mother dedicated her life to educating young women to give them voice in their turbulent new nation; Camila has spent her life quietly and anonymously teaching the Spanish pluperfect to upper-class American girls with no notion of revolution, no knowledge of Salome Urena.Now, in 1960, Camila must choose a final destination for herself. Where will she spend the rest of her days? News of the revolution in Cuba mirrors her own internal upheaval. In the process of deciding her future, Camila uncovers the truth of her mothers tragic personal life and, finally, finds a place for her own passion and commitment.Julia Alvarez has won a large and devoted audience by brilliantly illuminating the history of modern Caribbean America through the personal stories of its people. As a Latina, as a poet and novelist, and as a university professor, Julia Alvarez brings her own experience to this exquisite story.Julia Alvarezs new novel, Afterlife, is available now.