The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez
A San Antonio Express News Editor's Pick of the Month
A Parade Magazine Pick from Latinx Writers for Hispanic Heritage Month
A Chicago Tribune Pick of Books of Latinx Authors
A Booklist Top 10 Pick of 2020's Best Debut Novels
A 2020 Reading the West Book Award nominee for Debut Fiction
Finalist for the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel
Winner of the Rudolfo Anaya Award for Best Latino Focused Fiction Book in English
Winner of the International Latino Book Award Gold Medal for Best Audiobook
A BuzzFeed Books Pick of Books to Draw You into Historical Fiction
In the 1950s, tensions remain high in the border town of La Frontera. Penny loafers and sneakers clash with boots and huaraches. Bowling shirts and leather jackets compete with guayaberas. Convertibles fend with motorcycles. Yet amidst the discord, young love blooms at first sight between Fulgencio Ramirez, the son of impoverished immigrants, and Carolina Mendelssohn, the local pharmacist’s daughter. But as they’ll soon find out, their bonds will be undone by a force more powerful than they could have known.
Thirty years after their first fateful encounter, Fulgencio Ramirez, RPh, is conducting his daily ritual of reading the local obituaries in his cramped pharmacy office. After nearly a quarter of a century of waiting, Fulgencio sees the news he’s been hoping for: his nemesis, the husband of Carolina Mendelssohn, has died.
A work of magical realism, The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez weaves together the past and present as Fulgencio strives to succeed in America, break a mystical family curse, and win back Carolina’s love after their doomed youthful romance. Through enchanting language and meditations about the porous nature of borders—cultural, geographic, and otherworldly—The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez offers a vision of how the past has divided us, and how the future could unite us.
Praise