Orange Candy Slices and Other Secret Tales

In Viola Canales' first collection of short stories, magic suffuses the everyday lives of characters that yearn to be recognized by the world around them or to change the circumstances that are beyond their control. In the title story, "Orange Candy Slices," a young girl cuts flowers with the precision of a surgeon to win a special favor from the Virgin of Guadalupe. The coffee grounds at the bottom of a cup foretell the future of customers in the enchanting story, "The Cafe." And in "The Wooden Chair," a mysterious rattling chair turns a festive meal into a truth-telling cabal.

In these stories of coming of age, Canales introduces the reader to cultural traditions and artifacts of a very special community: homage to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the celebration of the day of the Three Magi, a carousel of unique saints, and a flock of very special pink plastic flamingos. With the passage of time, the narrator discovers changes within herself and the community around her.

Canales' tales inhabit the mysterious and secret land that lies between the United States and Mexico, between childhood and adulthood, reality and imagination, life and death. These haunting stories not only reveal, layer by layer, the fantastic in the ordinary, but, most importantly, the powerful and healing magic inside all of us.