“A writer of outstanding gifts.” —Barry Unsworth, The New York Times Book Review

“Told with irony and zest...All seeming antipodes...are right at home and perfectly natural in Padilla's realm, making for a rich, complex texture against which he weaves his spell.” —Los Angeles Times

“Defiantly cosmopolitan...Padilla is a potent voice in Latin American literature today.” —The Miami Herald

“Spans time and place as the story moves from one colorful character to another.” —Hispanic

“One of Mexico's foremost young writers presents a handful of eclectic modern-day fables...His stories, placed within history, tell of colonialism gone amok, of spirituality gone awry, bringing a beautiful, surreal narrative to the ways our history has been shaped.” —Booklist