Silviana Wood’s debut novel, La Quinta Soledad. Part fiction and part memoir, the novel is narrated by 62-year-old Quinta Soledad, a neighborhood typist and scribe from Barrio Anita in Tucson, Arizona. She tells a multigenerational Mexicana/Chicana family story of “oro molido” memories that center on her strict and unforgiving abuela, Nana Conchita; her single mother, Lola, who loves to sing and dance; and her four older blossom sisters: Dalia (la Dolly, the frustrated artist who looks like Joan Baez), Magnolia (la Maggie, who loves animals and speaks in her own peculiar language), Orquídea (la Orky, the incessant liar and beautiful wannabe actress who is the best cook in the family), and Azucena (la Susie Mae, the given-away estranged sister).
La Quinta Soledad is a tour de force of Chicana literature, culture, cuisine, folklore and humor. Wood is a master storyteller and word-sorceress in love with the beauty, magic, and creative possibility of the Chicana language in all of its glorious multilingualism, and ability to navigate multiple realities. Denise Chavez says: “Silviana Wood is La Mera Mera.” Luis Alberto Urrea says that “La Quinta Soledad is the kind of vast chronicle that transports readers to everywhere they desire to go.” And Demetria Martinez adds that “Silviana Wood has delivered a wondrous tale, a celebration of culture, language and familia.”
ISBN: 978-0-9905779-4-2 * $28.95 * 618 pages * Trade Paperback * Publication: Nov 2022