Focusing on the relationship between two fiercely independent women — Teresa, a writer, and Alicia, an artist — this epistolary novel was written as a tribute to Julio Cortázar’s Hopscotch and examines Latina forms of love, gender conflict, and female friendship. This groundbreaking debut novel received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation and is widely studied as a feminist text on the nature of self-conflict. Ana Castillo is a celebrated poet, essayist, editor, activist, novelist, and translator. Castillo’s commitment to human rights, free expression, and cultural exchange has shaped her career as a writer and scholar from the first. Calling her “the most daring and experimental of Latino novelists,” Commonweal contributor Ilan Stavans noted that Castillo’s “desire to find creative alternatives and to take risks is admirable.” - Poetry Foundation.