Brides have their dreams, sinners their secrets, but sometimes it’s not so easy to tell them apart. In the border town of El Paso—better known to its Mexican American residents as El Chuco—dramas unfold in humdrum households every day as working-class men come home from their jobs and as their wives and children do their best to cope with life. Christine Granados now plumbs the heart of this community in fourteen startling stories, uncovering the dreams and secrets in which ordinary people sometimes lose themselves. Many fictional accounts of barrio life play up tradition and nostalgia; Brides and Sinners in El Chuco is a trip to the darker side. Here are memories of growing up in a place where innocence is always tempered by reality—true-to-life stories, told in authentic language, of young women, from preteens to twenty-somethings, learning to negotiate their way through troubled times and troubled families. In the award-winning story “The Bride,” a young girl recalls her sister as a perennial bride on Halloween, planning for her eventual big day in a pink notebook with lists of potential husbands, only to see her dream thwarted at the junior prom. In another, we meet Bobbi, the class slut, whose D-cup chest astounds the other girls and entices everyone—even those who shouldn’t be tempted. Granados’ tales boldly portray women’s struggle for solidarity in the face of male abuse, and as these characters come to grips with self-discovery, sibling rivalry, and dysfunctional relationships, she shows what it means for Chicanas to grow up in protective families while learning to survive in the steamy border environment. Brides and Sinners in El Chuco is an uncompromising look at life with all its hard edges—told with enough softness to make readers come back for more.

Brides and Sinners in El Chuco (Camino del Sol)

Literature & Fiction

Granados, Christine

United States

University of Arizona Press

Winner of the 2018 NACCS Tejas Foco Fiction Book Award Winner of the 2017 Writers' League of Texas Fiction Discovery Prize Life in the parched landscape of El Paso is the setting for this book of stories about people navigating their way through dysfunctional lives with the help of friends and family--people like Moníca Montoya, a housewife and mother whose affair leaves her pregnant, causing her to revisit the legacy of her father, a man who maintained two separate families on either side of the Mexican-American border. In spite of their bad choices, the characters in this collection never give up.

Fight Like a Man and Other Stories We Tell Our Children

University of New Mexico Press

Describes the life of Sheila E., singer and percussionist, from growing up in Oakland, to playing with various bands, to her success as the first female band director on late-night TV.

Sheila E. (Real-Life Reader Biography)

Children's Books

Biographies

Mitchell Lane Pub Inc

Profiles the popular singer who won the Grammy award for Best New Artist in 2000.

Christina Aguilera (Real Life Reader Biography Ser)

Chronicles the life of the Latin pop star, from his birth in Madrid, to his move to Miami at age seven, to his singing career and his relationship with his father, singer Julio Iglesias.

Enrique Iglesias: A Real-Life Reader Biography

Christina Aguilera began performing in talent shows when she was six years old. She appeared on Star Search at the age of eight. At ten she sang the National Anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and at twelve she joined the cast of The New Mickey Mouse Club. If she seems in a hurry, she is. "I've wanted to be a star since I was six or seven," she said. The release of her debut album soared to the top of the music charts, scoring two number one hit singles with sales surpassing the ten million mark. All this, along with winning the 2000 Grammy for Best New Artist, was not bad for a kid who had not yet turned twenty. Her success continued with Mi Reflejo, the smash Spanish language version of her debut, followed by her hit holiday release, My Kind of Christmas. With her second album, Stripped, certified 3x platinum, and her film debut in the animated movie Shark Tale, Christina's talent provides her with endless possibilities for the future.

Christina Aguilera (Blue Banner Biographies)

Arts, Music & Photography

Famous People of Hispanic Heritage (10)

Biographies of noted Hispanic Americans include portraits of Geraldo Rivera, Antonia Novello, Joan Baez, Nancy Lopez, and others

Teen & Young Adult

Ménard, Valérie

Marvis, Barbara J.

Zannos, Susan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Granados, Christine. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Granados, Christine

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Granados, Christine. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Brides and Sinners in El Chuco (Camino del Sol)

Fight Like a Man and Other Stories We Tell Our Children

Sheila E. (Real-Life Reader Biography)

Christina Aguilera (Real Life Reader Biography Ser)

Enrique Iglesias: A Real-Life Reader Biography

Christina Aguilera (Blue Banner Biographies)

Famous People of Hispanic Heritage (10)

Famous People of Hispanic Heritage (10)