Tales of Mexico and Spain

In the sixteen stories composing Tales of Mexico and Spain, readers meet characters from the mountain communities of Mexico, from a popular bayside resort during more bucolic times, and in somewhat contemporary cities of Mexico and Spain. Some struggle to improve their lives, others to maintain their primitive existence: the young bride who feels she is little more than a burro, the elderly man hoping to become the oldest in his village, the mountain-raised youth who quickly learns the ways of the city, the donkey that would rather play or loaf than work. Readers can empathize with the teenage girl who must take up prostitution to support her family, with the patrician widow clinging to her first love, with self-exiled Americans, with aging veterans from the losing side of the Spanish Civil War. And more. An essay rounds things up.