The Flower in the Skull

About this book

Seeking to suppress a native uprising the Mexican army destroys a small village forcing Concha an Opata Indian girl to head north on her own. She finds her way to Tucson where she becomes a housekeeper for a wealthy family and gives birth to a beautiful and sensitive daughter Rosa. The narrative continues with Rosa who at fifteen marries a young zealous minister torn between his adopted faith and Mexican spiritualism. Shelly the third voice to tell her story is a Latina working for a publisher in modern-day Los Angeles. Anxious to escape a troubled life she undertakes a research assignment in Tucson where she finds herself drawn to a Mexican family whose history is unexpectedly linked to her own. Like Spirits of the Ordinary where some of these characters appeared Kathleen Alcalas new novel is a many-layered tale of heritage loss and understanding.