The Mixquiahuala Letters

Focusing on the relationship between two fiercely independent women—Teresa, a writer, and Alicia, an artist—this epistolary novel was written as a tribute to Julio Cort&#225zar's Hopscotch and examines Latina forms of love, gender conflict, and female friendship. Ana Castillo's groundbreaking first novel, The Mixquiahuala Letters, received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation and is widely studied as a feminist text on the nature of self-conflict.

Focusing on the relationship between two fiercely independent women—Teresa, a writer, and Alicia, an artist—this epistolary novel was written as a tribute to Julio Cortázar's Hopscotch and examines Latina forms of love, gender conflict, and female friendship. Ana Castillo's groundbreaking first novel, The Mixquiahuala Letters, received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation and is widely studied as a feminist text on the nature of self-conflict.

Belles Lettres - Irene Carr

Every time I read The Mixquiahuala Letters I savor the beautiful prose, become absorbed in the inevitable conflicts, and find new insights in the reflections of a woman who is caught between her desire to be free of societal expectations and her own internalized constrictions.

Ana Castillo is also the author of So Far from God, which received a 1993 Carl Sandburg Award and the Southwestern Booksellers Award, numerous poetry collections, including My Father Was a Toltec, and a critical work on Latina writing, Massacre of the Dreamers. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.