Genre Fiction
![Brenda Lozano - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_brenda_lozano.jpg)
Witches: A Novel
The beguiling story of a young journalist whose investigation of a murder leads her to the most legendary healer in all of Mexico, from one of the most prominent voices of a new generation of Latin American writers
Paloma is dead. But before she was murdered, before she was even Paloma, she was a traditional healer named Gaspar. Before she was murdered, she taught her cousin Feliciana the secrets of the ceremonies known as veladas, and about the Language and the Book that unlock their secrets.
Sent to report on Paloma's murder, Zoe meets Feliciana in the mountain village of San Felipe. There, the two women's lives twist around each other in a danse macabre. Feliciana tells Zoe the story of her struggle to become an accepted healer in her community, and Zoe begins to understand the hidden history of her own experience as a woman, finding her way in a hostile environment shaped by and for men.
Weaving together two parallel narratives that mirror and refract one another, this extraordinary novel envisions the healer as storyteller and the writer as healer, and offers a generous and nuanced understanding of a world that can be at turns violent and exultant, cruel and full of hope.
"A story of the world's repeated failure to control feminine power and the sheer magic of language itself. An enthralling, passionate story about secrets both holy and profane." -Catherine Lacey, author of Pew and Nobody Is Ever Missing
Paloma is dead. But before she was murdered, before she was even Paloma, she was a traditional healer named Gaspar. Before she was murdered, she taught her cousin Feliciana the secrets of the ceremonies known as veladas, and about the Language and the Book that unlock their secrets.
Sent to report on Paloma's murder, Zoe meets Feliciana in the mountain village of San Felipe. There, the two women's lives twist around each other in a danse macabre. Feliciana tells Zoe the story of her struggle to become an accepted healer in her community, and Zoe begins to understand the hidden history of her own experience as a woman, finding her way in a hostile environment shaped by and for men.
Weaving together two parallel narratives that mirror and refract one another, this extraordinary novel envisions the healer as storyteller and the writer as healer, and offers a generous and nuanced understanding of a world that can be at turns violent and exultant, cruel and full of hope.
"A story of the world's repeated failure to control feminine power and the sheer magic of language itself. An enthralling, passionate story about secrets both holy and profane." -Catherine Lacey, author of Pew and Nobody Is Ever Missing
Editorial Reviews
A Time Best Book of the Month
A Bustle Most Anticipated Book Of The Month
A NYLON Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A Millions Most Anticipated Book of the Year
"Set in Mexico, this is a layered, kaleidoscopic and powerful story exploring relationships, fluidity, pain, healing, power and patriarchy." -Karla Strand, Ms.
"The magic within the text of Witches exists in language . . . Lozano's interest in the fluidity of a piece of art mirrors Witches' own interest in fluidity-of gender, time, and even the perception of reality . . . In her Loop, an unnamed diarist explores the awful reality of gender-based violence, but in Witches, Lozano uses it as a point of connection for Feliciana and Zoe. She doesn't just raise awareness of the problem but imagines a way to save lives that exists outside of oppressive structures." -Shelbi Polk, Shondaland
"Who needs a standard plot when you can write as exquisitely as Brenda Lozano? . . . The women reveal themselves, through stories of mothers, daughters, sisters, lovers-men are essential but peripheral, often dangerous-in a rhythm that enchants and floats the story forward, confirming the capacity of words to cast a powerful spell." -Cat Auer, The A.V. Club
"A terrific read from a writer who explores the power of the feminine in a world set on narrowly defining and belittling it." -Sarah Neilson, A Them Best Book of Summer
"Readers of Fernanda Melchor's form-busting, psychedelic takes on recent South American history won't want to miss Brenda Lozano's Witches . . . Heather Cleary fluidly translates Lozano's spiky narrative, immersing readers in its horrors without obscuring its beauties." -Chicago Review of Books
"Vivid . . . Lozano is a keen observer who brings two very different worlds to the page with vibrant passages and a lot of heart. Work in translation is crucial because it opens doors to other places, ideas, identities, and cultures, and th...
A Bustle Most Anticipated Book Of The Month
A NYLON Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A Millions Most Anticipated Book of the Year
"Set in Mexico, this is a layered, kaleidoscopic and powerful story exploring relationships, fluidity, pain, healing, power and patriarchy." -Karla Strand, Ms.
"The magic within the text of Witches exists in language . . . Lozano's interest in the fluidity of a piece of art mirrors Witches' own interest in fluidity-of gender, time, and even the perception of reality . . . In her Loop, an unnamed diarist explores the awful reality of gender-based violence, but in Witches, Lozano uses it as a point of connection for Feliciana and Zoe. She doesn't just raise awareness of the problem but imagines a way to save lives that exists outside of oppressive structures." -Shelbi Polk, Shondaland
"Who needs a standard plot when you can write as exquisitely as Brenda Lozano? . . . The women reveal themselves, through stories of mothers, daughters, sisters, lovers-men are essential but peripheral, often dangerous-in a rhythm that enchants and floats the story forward, confirming the capacity of words to cast a powerful spell." -Cat Auer, The A.V. Club
"A terrific read from a writer who explores the power of the feminine in a world set on narrowly defining and belittling it." -Sarah Neilson, A Them Best Book of Summer
"Readers of Fernanda Melchor's form-busting, psychedelic takes on recent South American history won't want to miss Brenda Lozano's Witches . . . Heather Cleary fluidly translates Lozano's spiky narrative, immersing readers in its horrors without obscuring its beauties." -Chicago Review of Books
"Vivid . . . Lozano is a keen observer who brings two very different worlds to the page with vibrant passages and a lot of heart. Work in translation is crucial because it opens doors to other places, ideas, identities, and cultures, and th...
