Christina MacSweeney

"In a desert dotted with war-torn towns, Lázaro and Juan are two soldiers from opposing camps who abandon the war and, while fleeing, become lovers and discover a dark truth. Vicente Barrera, a salesman who swept into the lives of women who both hated and revered him, spends his last days tied up like a mad dog. A morgue worker, Salvador, gets lost in the desert and mistakes the cactus for the person he loves. Over the echoes of the stories of these...

As he sits by his dying mother, a son immerses himself in his memories of his childhood and youth while he investigates the complex relationship with his mother, his own children and his country, Mexico.