Tales from the Town of Widows: And Chronicles from the Land of Men - Softcover

Canon, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061140392 ISBN 13: 9780061140396

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2008

Synopsis

One Sunday morning, a band of guerrillas comes to Mariquita and takes all the men away, leaving behind only the priest and a fair-skinned boy disguised as a little girl. Without men, the small Colombian mountain village becomes a sinking wasteland filled with women resigned to food shortages, littered streets, and mourning. But Rosalba viuda de Patiño, wife of the former police sergeant, envisions a different future for the town of widows. Declaring herself magistrate, she promises to instill law and order, and restore the failing economy and infrastructure--and proceeds to create a utopia far greater than any revolutionary's imagined ideal society.

Deft, rich, and darkly humorous, Tales from the Town of Widows marks the arrival of an unforgettable new literary talent.

About this title

Review:

A much-loved tradition of Colombian fiction has been gorgeously re-imagined.--Joan Silber

The author spent five years crafting his highly imaginative debut...and the result is this stunning, unique novel.--Pages Magazine

The characterizations are drawn as compellingly as the storyline itself, which simply gets increasingly delicious as the pages turn.--Booklist

"Get ready for a refreshing dip into the waters of a rich imagination with this debut novel"--Library Journal

"Brilliant...a mesmerizing debut novel."--Elle

Cañón is a gifted storyteller...Tales from the Town of Widows, is a book of wonders with great political purpose.--Maureen Howard

"Enchanting . . . a rollicking and often shocking tale that Cañón tells with charm and bite."--Washington Post Book World

"Prime magic realism à la Márquez, Cortázar and Vargas Llosa, updated with a pop-culture twist."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author:

James Cañón was born and raised in Colombia. He moved to New York to study English and later earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. Cañón was awarded the 2001 Henfield Prize for Excellence in Fiction. He lives in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0061140392
• ISBN 13: 9780061140396
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352