"For as long as Mariana could remember, no one in the village had called her by her baptised name; instead they all called her La Prestada - The Borrowed Girl. But it didn't bother her. She knew she'd been lent out because as a child she'd been sick . . . she also knew that her twin sister had died and she would have too if she'd stayed . . . but these were all just facts, like historical facts with no feelings attached. She didn't think it was good or bad. It was just what had happened.
In this remarkable novel by the author of 'In My Father's House,' a baby is "lent" by her poverty-stricken Mexican Indian mother to a wealthy childless couple. As she grows up in a life of privilege, she feels increasingly drawn to her Nahautl Indian heritage and the ways of the campesinos.
Written with exuberance and compassion, 'The Borrowed Girl' pulses with vitality and a keen sensitivity for the struggles of the human heart.
