Eric B. Martin

A novel about crossing the border in the opposite direction: from wealthy, suburban Texas into the wild heart of Mexico. Alma Price is seventeen — shes smart, shes angry, and shes going to Mexico. Her grandfather lives there, or so she thinks, although its hard to know whats true with a lying mother who raised her amongst the blond brigade of their rich Texas neighborhood. Sick of suburbia, Alma hops a bus, crosses the border, gets a disguise, and winds through the thugs and witches and whores, ultimately disappearing in the heart of Mexico City. Her parents, Hermelinda and Truitt, are right behind her, swerving their big SUV around hallucinogenic cacti and through herds of wild pigs, trying to save their daughter and maybe even their marriage. But in her effort to bring her daughter home to Texas, Hermelinda finds that Mexico is slowly drawing her back in, reminding her of who she is and where shes from, and just maybe leading her toward a reconciliation with both her past and her estranged daughter. Confident, vicious, funny, and filled with the wild leaps of imagination, 'The Virgins Guide to Mexico' unleashes the full arsenal of an explosive, daring writer.