Mothers

From the author of Witches, a gripping, kaleidoscopic tale of two women in 1940s Mexico--one whose daughter has just been kidnapped and another who has just adopted a little girl

When the kidnapping of a little girl shocks the Mexican capital, the lives of two very different women become forever intertwined. Gloria Felipe lives a comfortable upper-class life with her husband and five children. Nuria Valencia comes from a working-class background and has been desperately trying to get pregnant in order to save her marriage. After traditional methods produce no results, she subjects herself to horrific fertility treatments designed and administered by men, and ultimately tries to adopt but is rejected on the basis that a woman in her early thirties is too old to adopt a baby. Failed time and again by the system and about to lose hope, she is presented with an opportunity that seems almost too good to be true.

Through the eyes of a wry unnamed narrator, we witness the battle of the Felipe family to recover their youngest member and the anguished attempts of the Valencia family to save their daughter from potential danger. With the twists and turns of a thriller, and Brenda Lozano’s sharp yet poignant sense of humor, the novel asks how far mothers are willing to go in the name of love for their children, and at what cost.

BRENDA LOZANO is a fiction writer, essayist, and editor. She is the author of five books including Witches (Catapult, 2022) and Loop (Charco Press, 2019). In 2015 she was selected by Conaculta, the Hay Festival and the British Council as one of Mexico’s best fiction writers under 40. In 2017 she was added to the Bogota 39 list, a selection of the best fiction writers under 40 from across Latin America.

HEATHER CLEARY has translated poetry and prose by writers including Betina González, Mario Bellatin, Sergio Chejfec, and María Ospina; her work has been recognized by the National Book Foundation, the Best Translated Book Award, the National Translation Award, and others.