Leaving Tabasco — Carmen Boullosa

A young woman encounters strange events in her Mexican hometown in this novel by an author who “immerses us…in her wickedly funny and imaginative world” (Latina).

Leaving Tabasco tells of the coming of age of Delmira Ulloa, raised in an all-female home in Agustini, in the Mexican province of Tabasco. In Agustini it is not unusual to see your grandmother float above the bed when she sleeps, or to purchase torrential rains at a traveling fair, or to watch your family's elderly serving woman develop stigmata, then disappear completely, to be canonized as a local saint.

But as Delmira becomes a woman, she will set out on a search for her missing father, and must make a choice that could mean leaving her home forever, in a tale filled with both depth and delightful mystery that poses questions about just how real the real world is.

“To flee Agustini is to leave not just a town but the viscerally primal dreamscape it represents.” -- The New York Times Book Review

“Vibrant…Each chapter is an adventure.” -- The Boston Globe

“We happily share with [Delmira] her life, including the infinitely charming town she inhabits [and] her grandmother's fantastic imagination.” -- The Washington Post Book World