The Journal of Antonio Montoya

A charming and haunting novel set in a decaying New Mexican village, with simple yet inspiring messages about the enduring power of love and the sanctity of place and history.

After young Jose Montoya’s parents are killed one August morning by a cow, it seems to his Aunt Ramona that some members of the family are more quick than dead. In this witty and memorable novel, time collapses, decades and generations inhabit the same place in a way that will change Jose’s life forever. THE JOURNAL OF ANTONIO MONTOYA is hallucinatory in its beauty and yet as everyday as the aroma in a warm family kitchen.

’Interweaves intriguing ideas on the relation between art and religion and between family history and family solidarity, doing this obliquely through a story in which half the characters are charming, amiably meddlesome ghosts. A distinctive and appealing first novel.’ Atlantic Monthly