“Erotic, catastrophic . . . Arana’s novel of taboo passion, tragic misperception, and life’s hidden dimensions is as shattering as it is seductive.”

In the elegance of Marie Arana’s American-English prose, one hears the persistent whisper of her father-tongue, Latin-American Spanish. Arana, the daughter of a Peruvian engineer and a North American mother, grew up belonging to both Americas, North and South.

“Sumptuous, often erotic, and wholly enchanting. A superb example of the magic that a gifted storyteller can work with ink and paper.” In her stunning fiction debut, Marie Arana has created a rich, boisterous saga about a remarkable family, a wondrous invention, and a powerful collision between science, magic, and faith.

Featuring a gathering of more than fifty of contemporary literature’s finest voices, this volume will enchant, move, and inspire readers with its tales of The Writing Life. In it, authors divulge professional secrets: how they first discovered they were writers, how they work, how they deal with the myriad frustrations and delights a writer’s life affords.