“Why hurry to give a welcome to grief?” asks Carolina. In the 1880’s a Mexican family splits in two; Carolina remains in rural Mexico, while her two brothers head north to what will become urban Texas. Still connected but ever more separate, the three siblings pass through triumph and tragedy, laughter and tears, births and deaths, love and hate, as their genetic and cultural heritages adapt to or resist the challenges of changing and unchanging environments. This is a vivid family saga, told with stirring simplicity, where the past wrestles with the future and character is often destiny“I am glad to see that this classic of modern Mexican fiction is at last available in English.” Aglae DickinsonDr. Ricardo Elizondo Elizondo (born 1950) is a Mexican writer whose work deals mostly with the northern states of Mexico (Nuevo León, Tamaulipas) and the border. During his career he has been the Administrator of the State Archives in Nuevo León as well as the head librarian of the Biblioteca Cervantina at the Monterrey Tec. Aside from his scholarship work, he is a member of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Committee.Dr. Geoff Hargreaves was educated in England, Wales, Spain, and Canada. He has translated into English such Mexican authors as Fabio Morábito, Carmen Boullosa, Juan Villoro, and Pedro Serrano. He currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.