“It’s harsh and thorough and a must read, especially for Americans.”
EVERYONE DESERVES A FINAL CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT… OR DO THEY?
When successful executive coach Rachel Barnes loses everything after a wrenching
betrayal by her husband, Rob, she flees to magical San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. At a bullfight, she is enthralled by the bull’s querencia—a serene moment of safety and strength just before his demise that is the pinnacle of his life. Inspired, she reinvents herself as the proprietor of a popular expat bar she calls La Querencia.
If only her past hadn’t trailed her to San Miguel. First come ex-clients wanting to ride Rachel’s transformation coattails, followed by a cousin seeking to finally make something of himself. And then, three years after their divorce, Rob walks into La Querencia chasing his own mystifying makeover. As they all desperately pursue their last dreams, secrets flare, hearts break, and by the Day of the Dead fiesta lives hang in the balance. Rachel must decide how much of herself to continue to give to the people in her life—and, ultimately, if her true querencia really lies in San Miguel, and she must give up her dream and start over, yet again.
With empathy, wit and an echo to the lost generation of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Dragonette’s Last Sunset in San Miguel explores the universal need to make the most of our dreams, while and if we possibly can.
Told in Dragonette’s mature and natural wordsmithing, descriptions melt across the page in particularly lovely fashion…deeper than Under the Tuscan Sun, readers who enjoy stories set in different places with a pinch of spice and danger and romance will enjoy this novel. Last Sunset in San Miguel is a thoughtful and thought-provoking story about forgiving and realizing that we all need a little la querencia inside of us.
About second chances and ultimate reckonings, Last Sunset in San Miguel is a compelling novel. The novel’s overarching question of what it means to have one last chance at meaningful experiences is poignant, especially as Rachel fears losing all that she worked to build… an arresting novel about a woman’s worries and hopes while she’s among fellow expatriates in Mexico.
On September 14, 1969, Private First Class Judy Talton celebrates her nineteenth birthday by secretly joining the campus anti-Vietnam War movement. In doing so, she jeopardizes both the army scholarship that will secure her future and her relationship with her military family. But Judy’s doubts have escalated with the travesties of the war. Who is she if she stays in the army? What is she if she leaves?
When the first date pulled in the Draft Lottery turns up as her birthday, she realizes that if she were a man, she’d have been Number One—off to Vietnam with an under-fire life expectancy of six seconds. The stakes become clear, propelling her toward a life-altering choice as fateful as that of any draftee.
The Fourteenth of September portrays a pivotal time at the peak of the Vietnam War through the rare perspective of a young woman, tracing her path of self-discovery and a “Coming of Conscience.” Judy’s story speaks to the poignant clash of young adulthood, early feminism, and war, offering an ageless inquiry into the domestic politics of protest when the world stops making sense.
Genre | Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
Publisher | She Writes Press
Price | $17.95
Released | September 18, 2018
Length | 376 pages
ISBN | 978-1631524622
“It’s harsh and thorough and a must read, especially for Americans.”
A Conflict of Conscience: The Fourteenth of September
“A truly fascinating… compelling and original read about one of the most debated wars in modern history.”
“The Fourteenth of September is a deftly written and thoroughly absorbing read from beginning to end.”
Click “General Fiction Shelf” — The Fourteenth of September is the third listing in this section.
An in-progress memoir in essays about being childless and other roads not taken.