Translated by Kianny N. Antigua
An extraordinary coming-of-age story of a young woman finding her voice in the world, now in a Spanish language edition.
On the last day of 1964, fifteen-year-old Ana Canción maries Juan Ruiz, a man twice her age, in the Dominican countryside. The following day she becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a one-bedroom in Washington Heights. Juan is unfaithful, abusive, and controlling, he even forbids her from learning English. After a failed escape, Ana learns she is pregnant. Both her mother and husband compare her pregnancy to winning the lottery, her child will have American citizenship. Juan returns briefly to the Dominican Republic when the civil war begins, leaving César, his brother, to care for Ana. During that respite from confinement she experiences true love, which awakens her will to fight for independence from her abuser and for the right to stay in her adopted homeland. A timeless portrait of womanhood and citizenship, which rings true in this era of forced migration.
Una extraordinaria novela de iniciación sobre una mujer joven que encuentra su voz en el mundo ahora en una edición en Español.
El último día de 1964, la quinceañera Ana Canción se casa con Juan Ruiz, un hombre veinte años mayor que ella, en el campo dominicano. Al día siguiente se vuelve Ana Ruiz, una esposa confinada a un apartamento de un cuarto en Washington Heights. Juan la engaña, abusa y controla, hasta le prohíbe aprender inglés. Después de un intento fallido de fuga, Ana se entera de que está embarazada. Su madre y su esposo comparan su embarazo a ganar la lotería, su niña tendrá ciudadanía estadounidense. Juan vuelve a la República Dominicana cuando la guerra civil comienza, dejando a César, su hermano, cuidando a Ana. Durante ese descanso del confinamiento ella se enamora genuinamente, lo cual despierta su voluntad de pelear por independizarse de su abusador y por su derecho de permanecer en su patria adoptiva. Un retrato atemporal de feminidad y ciudadanía, que sigue vigente en esta época de migración forzada.
Translator KIANNY N. ANTIGUA is a fiction writer, poet and translator. She is Senior Lecturer of Spanish at Dartmouth College. Antigua has published fourteen children's books, four short story collections, two poetry collections, two microfiction collections, two anthologies, a novel, and a journal. She has won sixteen literary awards and lives in Hanover, NH.
ANGIE CRUZ is the author of the novels Dominicana, Soledad, and Let It Rain Coffee, a finalist in 2007 for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She has published short fiction and essays in magazines and journals, including The New York Times, VQR, and Gulf Coast Literary Journal. She has received numerous grants and residencies including the New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship, Yaddo, and The Macdowell Colony. She is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Aster(ix), a literary and arts journal. Cruz is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. Dominicana was inspired by her mother's story.
