Overview

A Los Angeles Latina woman living in poverty and hoping for miracles "comes to stunning and heartbreaking life" in this novel from an award-winning author (Newsday).

On a hot, still day in May, Amalia Gómez sees—or thinks she sees—a large silver cross in the sky. Does this vision foretell a miracle? The pragmatic, twice-divorced Amalia is doubtful . . .

Amalia's neighborhood—a decaying area near a shabby part of Hollywood Boulevard—is under attack from gang wars and the police. Her live-in boyfriend is behaving suspiciously, her "fast" teenage daughter Gloria has become too much to handle, and her teenage son is hinting he's in serious trouble. Most of all, Amalia is haunted by thoughts of her past and her first-born, dead in jail under mysterious circumstances.

As the epiphanies and small omens of Amalia's day build to a climax as wondrous as it is shattering, PEN Center USA's Lifetime Achievement...