Souls in the Mist

Book excerpt: Souls in the Mist: A tale I lived is a novel where the people, places and customs portrayed represent the life of a rural community in Mexico in the time leading up to the Day of the Dead celebration. The common thread of the story is an old woman who, as she goes from her house to the market, the Church or cemetery during these festivity days, is encountering various inhabitants of the village. As she and the rest of her neighbors are doing various tasks specifi c to those days, she is narrating her life and sharing her thoughts and memories from the towns old days, and whenever she encounters someone in the village, she takes us by the hand to the inside of that persons story. The traditions associated with these festivities lend a magical aura to the plot of the novel, as the living characters seem not only to reminisce but also to interact with the souls of the deceased. The reader hears the voices of the villagers, and in their manner of speaking becomes witness to the towns deepest soul. Its tone takes a page from the style of Magic Realism made famous by Gabriel Garca-Marquezs One Hundred Years of Solitude, Juan Rulfos Pedro Pramo or Laura Esquivels Like Water for Chocolate.