Dancing with Butterflies

In Dancing with Butterflies, Reyna Grande renders the Mexican immigrant experience in "lyrical and sensual" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) prose through the poignant stories of four women brought together through folklorico dance.

Dancing with Butterflies uses the alternating voices of four very different women whose lives interconnect through a common passion for their Mexican heritage and a dance company called Alegr a. Yesenia, who founded Alegr a with her husband, Eduardo, sabotages her own efforts to remain a vital, vibrant woman when she travels back and forth across the Mexican border for cheap plastic surgery. Elena, grief-stricken by the death of her only child and the end of her marriage, finds herself falling dangerously in love with one of her underage students. Elena's sister, Adriana, wears the wounds of abandonment by a dysfunctional family and becomes unable to discern love from abuse. Soledad, the sweet-tempered illegal immigrant who designs costumes for Alegr a, finds herself stuck back in Mexico, where she returns to see her dying grandmother.

Reyna Grande has brought these fictional characters so convincingly to life that readers will imagine they know them.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Published: 10/06/2009
ISBN: 9781439109069
Pages: 416
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.30w x 1.40d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 08/24/2009 pg. 40
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2009
Booklist 10/01/2009 pg. 26