The Realm of Hungry Spirits

The award-winning author ofThe Gifted Gabaldón Sistersreturns with a new novel about a woman who craves solitude, only to find family more fulfilling. Marina Lucero appreciates peace and order. Unfortunately the people around her do not. An ESL teacher in Southern California, all Marina wants is something to believe in. Like her mother, sequestered away in a Carmelite convent down in Mexico, or her late father, whose last days were spent in peaceful meditation. But when her house is full of freeloaders; when her best friend can't seem to escape an abusive relationship; and when the closest thing Marina has to a daughter is dangerously close to drowning in grief, faith feels in short supply. Desperate for a more tranquil life, Marina even considers an old Santeria ritual to help cleanse her soul. But is this spiritual housecleaning really the answer to her prayers? Or will Marina learn that a little disorder can lead to a lot of happiness?

Lorraine López is a Professor of English in the Creative Writing Program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She won the 2003 Independent Publishers Book Award for Multicultural Fiction, awarded by the Jenkins Group, for Soy la Avon Lady and other Stories. The same work also won the 2003 Latino Book Award for Short Stories, awarded by the Latino Literary Hall of Fame. In 2001, López was awarded the Inaugural Miguel Marmol Prize for Fiction, selected by Sandra Cisneros and awarded by Curbstone Press, for a first book-length work of fiction of a Latino writer.