April 8, 2013
In YA writer Barrio’s fantastical debut adult novel (after The Man Who Grew Dizzy with the Earth’s Rotation), Clara Laguna—the latest in a long line of “cursed” Laguna women whose tragic affairs result in daughters born to follow in their mothers’ footsteps—plots revenge on the young Andalusian landowner who loved and left her. Her revenge: to transform the estate he leaves her into a brothel, the Scarlet House, where she lives with her blind mother, known as the Laguna witch, and a bearded, mute female cook. They attract the attention of the local priest, who hopes to convert Clara. He baptizes her daughter, Manuela, but loses the larger battle when the girl joins her mother in the family business. When her own daughter, Olvido, is born, Manuela vows to change her family’s reputation, setting fire to the house and fighting the family curse for years—sowing the seeds for the first Laguna boy, Santiago, Clara’s great-great grandson. Spanning the 19th and 20th centuries in Spain, Barrio’s story combines the timeless quality of a fable with the fully imagined emotional force of a modern novel. Characters that alone might feel overly simple, together bring to the novel the embroidered richness of a family saga told and retold across generations.
April 1, 2013
The Laguna family is cursed. Generation after generation of women fall hopelessly in love and bear only daughters, who, in time, suffer their own hopeless loves. Young-adult author Barrio offers her first novel for adults. Imbued with magical realism, Barrio's tale of lost loves sparkles. In the fall of 1897, a handsome Andalusian landowner arrives in the small Castilian town to hunt, but before he can chase the first stag, he is caught himself by the golden eyes of Clara Laguna. Her mother is the town witch, renowned for making protective amulets, repairing hymens and predicting the future by throwing cat bones. Undaunted by the townspeople who urge him to stay away from the cursed family, the Andalusian instead embarks on an impassioned love affair. Clara's mother encourages the affair but discourages Clara's hopes of marriage, even when he returns the following year. She's right, of course. The Andalusian abandons Clara, leaving her pregnant with yet another Laguna girl. He also leaves her with the means to exact a strange revenge: Clara turns the house he gave her into a brothel. Behind the house grows a magical garden, lush with roses and tomatoes that defy the cycle of seasons. Named the Scarlet Manor, the house itself attracts not only clients eager to have the golden-eyed Clara, but also a bearded woman, who escapes the circus to become Clara's enamored cook, and a wild-eyed priest, who bewitches his congregation with sermons born of war. The Laguna women's saga continues through Clara's daughter and granddaughter, until at last a boy is born into the family. Yet the curse may still have a few tricks to play. A gorgeously spun and deftly told tale.
COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
May 1, 2013
Five generations of Laguna women have been cursedeach doomed to birth a girl who falls deeply in love with a man who will break her heart. After Clara, the second Laguna, is abandoned by her Andalusian lover, she swears revenge and turns her home into a brothel. The lavish Scarlet Manor receives the next three Lagunas: Manuela, the bitter daughter determined to purify the family; her daughter, Olvido, left yearning for her murdered lover; and Olvido's daughter, Margarita, who gives birth to the exceptional Santiago. Parading the boy (and his testicles) around town, the Lagunas have no choice but to believe this son has finally broken the curse. Jam-packed with magic realism and often missing seemingly vital details, Barrio's debut reads as if Garc-a Mrquez had written a soap opera. Carter's translation of this whimsical novel offers a vivid and sultry language that perfectly reflects the Laguna family and their fantastical world. With self-healing wounds and pet cockroaches, this tale has it all. And while that can prove problematic, there's no doubt that Barrio is a wonderfully gifted storyteller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)