Cabañuelas - by Norma Elia Cantú (Paperback)

About the Book

In Cantú's latest novel Nena must decide where she can best be true to her entire self: in Spain with Paco or in Laredo, her home, where her job and family await her return.

Book Synopsis

Finalist for the 2020 Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction

Nena leaves Laredo, Texas, and moves to Madrid, Spain, to research the historical roots of traditional fiestas in Laredo. Immersing herself in post-Franco Spain and its rich history, its food, music, and fiestas, Nena finds herself falling for Paco, a Spaniard who works in publishing. Nena's research and experiences teach her about who she is, where she comes from, and what is important to her, but as her work comes to a close, Nena must decide where she can best be true to her entire self: in Spain with Paco or in Laredo, her home, where her job and family await her return.

Review Quotes

"Cabañuelas will renew interest in Cantú's previous work as well as earn her a new generation of fans."--NBC News

"A personal almanac that crosses borders of genres, a testimonio/novela, a compendium of folklore, a collection of snapshots, an unlynching, a rope loosened from the throat of history, a telling, a woman reclaiming a private geography from that multiplicity of geographies--la frontera, from un 'pedacito de tierra that is home.'"--

Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

"As a folklorist, Cantú is fascinated by the hybrid culture that the border creates. Her novels often capture this dynamic world and what it means to grow up there."--Smithsonian Folklife

"Cantú continues to be [a] major source for understanding life on the border."--Roundup Magazine

"Cantú writes the effortless prose of a travel writer or memoirist reporting contemporary events, a diarist. . . . Cantú controls her art with excellence."--La Bloga

"In Cabañuelas, both author and protagonist are ethnographers, co-weaving a story rich in descriptions of folklore, architecture, landscape, relationships, and academia while telling a transtemporal and transcontinental story of self-affirmation against the historical backdrops and center-stage landscapes of Spain, Mexico, and the United States."--Larissa M. Mercado-López, coeditor of (Re)mapping the Latina/o Literary Landscape

"It is a feast for the senses, sighing of monarch butterflies flocking south, croquetas de salmon and plato fuerte, Tejano music blaring against the stars. . . . Cabañuelas is an arresting story of individual complexities."--Foreword Reviews

"Readers will . . . learn much about the human heart along the way."--Michele Potter, enchantment

"The borderlands are integral to Nena, to her experiences, and to her writing, and Cabañuelas is a testament to this."--Ana Roncero-Bellido, Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures

"The pictures of Spain Cantú paints with her words are as rich as the Texas soil of her homeland. . . . Marvelously entertaining and romantic."--Texana Reads column, Corpus Christi Caller-Times

"This book is a brilliant meditation on the traditional fiestas of Spain and the years of La Movida. . . . This novel creates a new blueprint of representation that points at the fluidity of time and space, to a consciousness that refuses borders and the sort of separation that Cantú's writing is usually addressing."--Juan Velasco, American Book Review

"We can't know where Cantú diverges from Nena in Cabañuelas. What we can know, what is lyrically evident in Cantú's latest novel, is her trust in commonalities and her love for both the people and the landscape of the borderlands."--Lone Star Literary Life