Desert Hawk Books

 

The Truth about Alicia
and Other Stories

Ana Consuelo Matiella

 

 

150 pages
6 x 9

Paperback

Quantity:  $14.95 & S/H

Cloth

Quantity:  $24.95 & S/H

 

"The truth about Alicia was that she wasn’t that stable to begin with. So when she did what she did, no one was very surprised. Still it was shocking, the way she followed them from the hardware store to the woman’s house, the way she broke the sliding glass door with the tire jack, the way she found them in bed. It was more than she could take, her being seven months pregnant and all. It only took two shots. . . . "

Alicia is not the only woman with problems. In these stories about contemporary and traditional Latinas, Ana Consuelo Matiella uses sensitivity and wit to address issues faced by women of color and women everywhere—issues largely having to do with love: between men and women, mothers and daughters, women and friends.

In engaging stories about family myths, gossip, and lies, comadres converse over afternoon café con leche. "I’m sure that I was the only wife whose husband was teaching their daughter to do Cheech Marin imitations," remarks one of Matiella’s characters. Another sings the praises of the chocolate milkshake diet: "That’s one advantage of living on the border. You get to try all the latest gringo inventions as soon as they hit the streets." Through encounters with angels, conversations with dogs, and relationships with men overly concerned with the dimensions of their manhood, Matiella offers a new exploration of the human condition—one showing us that if we cannot laugh at life, no matter how tragic the circumstances, we are surely doomed.

With humor and insight that come only through close observation of her fellow human beings, this gifted writer brings new twists to familiar scenes. The Truth about Alicia and Other Stories is an authentic portrayal of the world of contemporary Chicanas that will delight everyone who enters it.

"These are ordinary, powerful stories, moving between the mundane and the mystery, and always to daily wonder, with magical blue dogs and wise crows who speak. Matiella writes about family, her people, with the clear eyes of love." —Alma Luz Villanueva

"A savory cocido of stories simmering with all the best ingredients: love and loss, magic and reality, history and myth, tradition and acculturation. Cuentos written with humor and sensitivity about issues facing not only Latinas, but women everywhere."
—Patricia Preciado Martin

Ana Consuelo Matiella is the author and editor of several books on multicultural education and produces fotonovelas on educational topics. She is a columnist for the Santa Fe New Mexican, and her work has been anthologized in Walking the Twilight: Women Writers of the Southwest.