May 2012 Conversations with Las Comadres: Teleconference Series
Perla — Outside Links: Book Author PublisherPublisher
Every Last Secret — Outside Links: Book Author Publisher
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW Length: 00:53:05 | Size: 9.55 MB
May 2012 Book of the Month
Perla
By Carolina De Robertis
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN-13: 978-0307744173
Perla Correa grew up a privileged only child in Buenos Aires with a polished yet aloof mother and a straight-laced Naval officer father, whose profession she learned early not to disclose in a country still reeling from the abuses perpetrated by the deposed military dictatorship. Although Perla understands that her parents were on the wrong side of the conflict, her love for her Papá is unconditional. But when she is startled by an uninvited visitor, she begins a journey that will force her to confront the unease she has long suppressed, and make a wrenching decision about who she is, and will become.
This rich human drama is based on the truth of 30,000 disappeared Argentinean citizens and 500 babies who were born in clandestine detention centers, torn from their mothers and secretly given up for adoption. In the years that followed this dark time, some of these children have been able to discover the identity of their true families, and continue to do so today. Perla brings real history to life as only fiction can, in an intimate, unforgettable portrait of one young woman’s explosive search for truth. In her second novel, De Robertis unfolds a gripping and historically resonant tale with keen-eyed compassion, luminous prose, and a startling vision of the incomparable power of love.
About the Author: Carolina De Robertis
Carolina De Robertis’ first novel, The Invisible Mountain (Knopf, 2009), received the Rhegium Julii Debut Prize, has been translated into fifteen languages, and was named a Best Book of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle, O, The Oprah Magazine, and BookList. Her writings and literary translations have appeared in Zoetrope: Allstory, Granta, The San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere. Her translation of the contemporary Chilean novella Bonsai, by Alejandro Zambra, was named one of the Ten Best Translated Books of 2008 by the journal Three Percent. She is also the recipient of a 2012 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
De Robertis grew up in a Uruguayan family that immigrated to England, Switzerland, and California. Prior to completing her first book, she worked in women’s rights organizations for ten years, on issues ranging from rape to immigration. Her second novel, Perla—in which the dutiful daughter of an Argentine Navy captain is forever altered when she is forced to confront her family’s role in past crimes and the buried secrets of her own origins—is forthcoming from Knopf in March of 2012.
She lives in Oakland, California, where she is currently elbow-deep in writing her third novel, which explores migration, sexual frontiers, and the tango’s Old Guard in early twentieth century South America.
May 2012 Additional Conversation
Every Last Secret
By Linda Rodriguez
Published by Minotaur/St Martin’s Press
ISBN-13: 978-1594487484
Half-Cherokee Marquitta “Skeet” Bannion thought she was leaving her troubles behind when she fled the stress of being the highest ranking woman on the Kansas City Police Department, a jealous cop ex-husband who didn’t want to let go, and a disgraced alcoholic ex-cop father. Moving to a small town to be chief of the campus police force, she builds a life outside of police work. She might even begin a new relationship with the amiable Brewster police chief.
All of this is threatened when the student editor of the college newspaper is found murdered on campus. Skeet must track down the killer, following trails that lead to some of the most powerful people in the university. In the midst of her investigation, Skeet takes up responsibility for a vulnerable teenager as her ex-husband and seriously ailing father wind up back on her hands. Time is running out and college administrators demand she conceal all college involvement in the murder, but Skeet will not stop until she’s unraveled every last
About the Author: Linda Rodriguez
Linda Rodriguez is a member of the Latino Writers Collective, founder/coordinator of the annual Kansas City Women Writers Reading Series, a founding board member of The Writers Place, and has published poetry and fiction in numerous literary magazines such as New Letters, New Letters on the Air, Plainswoman, The Kansas City Star, Wheelhouse Magazine, Writers Digest, and Z Miscellaneous, as well as several anthologies. Her chapbook, Skin Hunger (Potpourri Publications, 1995), was named by Michael Bugeja of Writer’s Digest as one of the four top poetry chapbooks of the year. She has also published numerous articles for general and scholarly publications, including three articles on Rudolfo Anaya’s work in the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Hispanic Literature.
Rodriguez is the former Director of the UMKC Women’s Center and was a co-convenor of the Women and Environment Caucus at the United Nations international conference, Women 2000: Beijing Plus Five. She is a founder of the University Women’s Leadership Institute and the Missouri Women’s Leadership Coalition and serves on a number of community boards. She has a B.A. and an M.A. in English from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is currently writing a novel about the Vietnam War at home and overseas and a nonfiction book for women on leadership and confidence.