Caramelo

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. Sandra Cisneros’s other novel, "The House on Mango Street," has been translated into 20+ languages and sold over 6,000,000 copies. "Caramelo" is a family novel-chronicle about Mexico, relationships between fathers and children, growing up, and the formation of identity. A story thick with cultural and historical references, vivid dialogue, and memorable characters.

Every summer, Lala Reyes’s large family travels on a long-awaited trip from Chicago to Mexico City—to the house of Little Grandpa and Terrible Grandma. Lala watches her relatives’ relationships with interest, often exaggerates events in a childlike way, and invents things. The girl tries hard to understand how her world works, to figure out why Terrible Grandma became so terrible and spent her whole life playing the part of a witch from the scariest fairy tales. But most of all, Lala longs to find her own voice among a hundred others—loud ones, interrupting ones, more confident and stronger ones.

In the end, the search for answers—like the colorful pattern on the famous rebozo shawl—turns into a wild exploration of life, love, lies, and betrayals.

Sandra Cisneros is the recipient of prestigious literary awards: winner of the "Nabokov Prize 2019" for her contribution to world literature development, winner of the National Book Award for fiction, winner of the Lanna Literary Prize, and winner of the Dublin Literary Award.