2014 book challenge: month 1, book 1

[photo by pawzonthepage, Ecuador, 1989]

The first book I read to get the challenge underway was The Queen of Night, by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango (2011), from the category of "Hispanic author or topic." (BTW, the reason I'm using the word "Hispanic" here rather than "Latino" is that the library branch where I work calls its large collection of materials on the topic or in Spanish the Hispanic Resource Center. I realize that people often have strong preferences for one term or the other.) I started with this one because a colleague highly recommended it -- and rightly so.

Set in the Ecuadorian Altiplano in the 1980s, the story is based on the childhood and youth of one of the authors, Maria Virginia Farinango, who at the age of seven was sent from her Quichua village to work as a maid. It's not only about her personal struggles with abuse, disrespect, poverty, and lack of opportunity, but also about the worldwide issue of bigotry against indigenous people and its very real consequences -- a problem that, while it has improved in recent decades, still needs work.

 It's not a spoiler to say that she turns out all right in the end -- obviously, she's writing the book -- but it would be a spoiler to tell how, or to explain the title, so I'll end here.

There is an interview with Maria Virginia Farinango on Laura Resau's website.