Send My Roots Rain

Carole Rio, an artist running from her past, is invited to a small Texas border town to paint murals in a church--but the church has burned down in a catastrophic fire. Carole becomes the catalyst for the town’s release of its collective guilt, and as the community rebuilds and heals, she faces her own terrifying nightmares and confronts her sexual identity. Send My Roots Rain reveals how memory and land can form potent ties, and how unexpected change has the power to heal and transform lives.

An intriguing, compelling story--well told. -- Tee Corinne

A wonderfully engaging, fast-paced, brilliantly written novel. -- Wisconsin Bookwatch

Send My Roots Rain offers a promise of ever more creative blooms from this Houston-based writer -- Lambda Book Report

Ibis Gómez-Vega was born in the back of a taxi cab in Havana, Cuba. Once, she met Gertrude Stein at a carnival in Oklahoma. Another time she had dinner with Tee Corinne in Baba Yega’s in Montrose. She often wonders about the connection between the accident of her birth and her own human relevance on this sad planet. Along with her novel Send My Roots Rain (Aunt Lute Books, 1991), she has published many short stories in various journals such as Voces: A Journal of Chicana/Latina Studies. Gómez-Vega received her Ph.D. from the University of Houston and has taught at various colleges in the Houston area. She currently teaches English at Northern Illinois University.