Description
Luz "Little Light" Lopez, a tea leaf reader and laundress, is left to fend for herself after her older brother, Diego, a snake charmer and factory worker, is run out of town by a violent white mob. As Luz navigates 1930's Denver on her own, she begins to have visions that transport her to her Indigenous homeland in the nearby Lost Territory. Luz recollects her ancestors' origins, how her family flourished and how they were threatened. She bears witness to the sinister forces that have devastated her people and their homelands for generations. In the end, it is up to Luz to save her family stories from disappearing into oblivion.
Written in Kali Fajardo-Anstine's singular voice, the wildly entertaining and complex lives of the Lopez family fill the pages of this multigenerational western saga. Woman of Light is a transfixing novel about survival, family secrets, and love, filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, all of whom are just as special, memorable, and complicated as our beloved heroine, Luz.
Jorge Jacobson @logan99_763
August 9, 2022
4
This is just such a fabulous book on so many levels. It is a multi-generational story set in the backdrop of the western lands of the US. We can see the ancestors recent and old and their respective stories told through (and around) the main character, Luz “Little Light” Lopez and her family through an array of avenues and snippets. We can see through each time period the triumphs, struggles, losses, changes, and cultural significances within each respective generation. This mainly takes place roughly between 1890 and 1935. It is just fascinating.