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Lucia Zarate Cecilia Velastegui Books

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Lucia Zarate Cecilia Velastegui Books

What a fantastic read this was! I spent yesterday enthralled with Lucia Zarate's fascinating life, carefully constructed by author Cecilia Velastegui. With smooth writing and wonderful historical descriptions, the book was hard to put down so I went ahead and read it in one sitting :) I really enjoyed Lucia Zarate and cannot wait to read more by this author. Highly recommended!

I heard this title was nominated for Best Historical Fiction for the 2017 Latino Book Awards and I really hope it wins!


Tags : Amazon.com: Lucia Zarate (9780990671381): Cecilia Velastegui: Books,Cecilia Velastegui,Lucia Zarate,Libros Publishing Llc,0990671380,Hispanic & Latino,Historical,Biographical fiction,Biographical fiction.,Freak shows,Freak shows;Fiction.,Literature & Fiction General,FICTION Hispanic & Latino,FICTION Historical,FICTION Historical General,Fiction,Fiction-Historical,FictionHispanic & Latino,Fiction: general & literary,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical fiction,LATIN AMERICAN NOVEL AND SHORT STORY,Relating to Latin Hispanic American people,United States

Lucia Zarate Cecilia Velastegui Books Reviews

Cecilia Velástegui’s mystical prose, depth of characterization and adroit plotting have been compared favorably to the work of established literary figure Arturo Pérez-Reverte. It should be no surprise, therefore, that her latest historical novel, Lucía Zarate, Velástegui, though a relative new-comer, is tied with Pérez-Reverte as a finalist in the 2017 International Latino Book awards.
“Lucía’s diminutive size had always created a see-saw of emotions within her. She either frightened people or suffered their ridicule.” Lucía Zárate was unique, a 20-inch high adult with a tinny, piping voice and the ability to charm audiences with her boisterous personality and cheeky jibes. Born in 1870 in Mexico, believed by the locals to be a chaneque, or mischievous sprite, Lucía would live to meet monarchs, be courted by a midget and displayed with a giant. Her life is the subject of this fascinating historical novel by award-winning author Cecelia Velástegui.
Zárate’s mother consents to have her healthy but vulnerable daughter sent on tour to the US and beyond only if a suitable nurse/cook/companion can be found for the journey. The author has cleverly created this companion in the street-wise, scam-wise Zoila. Zoila, fleeing a questionable past and well tutored by her roguish father as a multilingual interpreter, protects and cossets the tiny celebrity, coming to know and divert the petite Lucía’s many angry, sometimes depressive moods. Along with a money-hungry manager, Frank Uffner, the entourage will travel first to Philadelphia where Lucía, said to be twelve but possibly as young as six, and by now used to being an object of curiosity, will be displayed at the Centennial celebration of 1876.
The popularity this event engenders for Lucía will lead her to encounter other physically different people who make their living from their anomalies. One notable meeting touted in the press will be Lucia’s contact with the American midget, General Mite; she fantasizes about pursuing a normal life with him someday, somehow. In England she will meet with Queen Victoria and the royal family at home, one of very few celebrities to have this distinction. And she is “growing” from a shy, even fearful child to a teenager with a canny understanding of her financial worth. Privately, Zoila has concerns that Lucia’s physical and mental wellbeing are imperiled by the rigors of vagabonding, and secretly wishes to return her to her Mexican home, to a simple, sunny lifestyle. But such is not to be her fate.
Drawing on every available shred of information about this remarkable person, Velástegui has gathered threads of legend, lore and medical science to weave this elaborate, at times extravagant tapestry. Said to have been the world’s smallest human, Zarate was later identified as having MOPD (Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism), a rare disease. She is portrayed by the author as bright and talented, undoubtedly flattered by the attention she provokes, yet frustrated and fractious as she is constantly aware of her extreme differentness. Velástegui skillfully conveys these conflicting feelings through the perceptions of Zoila, a woman who has seen the worst of human foibles and seeks to keep her charge from experiencing them.
This unusual tale typifies the strange and wondrous vision associated with great Latin writers like Márquez, Llosa and Allende. Endowing ordinary events with magical symbolism is a talent that Velástegui has displayed in previous works, notably Missing in Machu Picchu and Traces of Bliss, both winners of the coveted Latino Book Award.
Lucía Zárate has been crafted with admirable acumen. It features two heroines—one a physically fragile but spirited entertainer, the other her steely, seasoned caretaker—locked together in an enthralling tale both true and imagined, and polished to gem-like brilliance by skilled wordsmith Velástegui.
(The author gave me a copy of this book.)
Excellent book I couldn't put it down it was written extremely well it was so interesting
An excellent book about a remarkable young lady who lived in the Era of side shows. If you like stories like PT Barnum or the days before animal acts were the main draw at circuses, this book is for you. It gives you the behind the scenes glimpse of a performer's life well as the family dynamics.
What a fantastic read this was! I spent yesterday enthralled with Lucia Zarate's fascinating life, carefully constructed by author Cecilia Velastegui. With smooth writing and wonderful historical descriptions, the book was hard to put down so I went ahead and read it in one sitting ) I really enjoyed Lucia Zarate and cannot wait to read more by this author. Highly recommended!

I heard this title was nominated for Best Historical Fiction for the 2017 Latino Book Awards and I really hope it wins!