La Bruja Buena de Agua Mansa

A lyrical first novel reminiscent of Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, Still Water Saints is a great first effort from Alex Espinoza. In the small border town of Agua Mansa, Perla runs her botanica full of herbs, remedies, saint cards, charms and candles. The townspeople come to her for healing--hearts, heads, spirits, bodies. Along with the special potions and incenses and tributes to various saints, Perla provides hope and encouragement to her visitors. When a frightened and homeless boy, Rodrigo, comes to Perla for English lessons, she writes out the story of her life for him. His disappearance challenges Perla to examine her own doubts and losses in her life even as she seeks to heal Rodrigo's physical and emotional wounds. Fans of Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel or Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co. by Maria Ampara Escandon will be equally charmed by these hopeful characters. Don't expect a tidy resolution. Life hasn't ever delivered one of these in reality and Espinoza's fiction depicts life, not fantasy.
This book was discussed on The Walt Bodine Show 's Book Doctors program May 17, 2007. KCUR 89.3

You need a new activity. Yes, you do.

Making a New Year's commitment to watch less television and read more books? Start here! Common Grounds Book Group will meet Saturday, February 24, 10:30 am at the Nine Muses Cafe at Kansas City Public Library, 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, MO, 816-701-3683.

Our first book is Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living by Carrie Tiffany.

It's a first novel set in Depression era Australia. The government's "Better Farming Train" is chugging it's way across the wheat fields and small towns of the Outback, with a staff of eccentric, scientific and romantic characters. Two of them fall in love and try to put the advice they've been doling out to good use with mixed results.


To register (which isn't required) or reserve a book call 816-701-3683.