Perhaps it wasn't true, but it made Maite's skin prickle with dread, because no one wanted a repeat of '68. The cops were innocent, lawful citizens doing their jobs. In the papers, columnists accused communist foreigners of corrupting Mexico's youth and attempting to destroy the nation. Maite considers herself a spinster and fantasizes about the kind of romance she reads about in comics like Lágrimas y Risas and Secret Romance. She steals little things from the gigs she gets taking care of animals and her only companion - besides her beloved books and albums - is a parakeet. Her mother critiques her constantly and she doesn't make much at her job, which she hates. She hates the way she looks and almost everything she wears. Maite and Elvis are unique, flawed, and sad in a way that burrows into your heart. The first is creating memorable characters. Moreno-Garcia does many things well here. But Maite and Elvis aren't the only ones after Leonora and the photographs she may or may not have, so their search puts them on the same path as shady government groups and Russian spies, both of whom will torture and kill anyone to get the answers they want. Meanwhile, Elvis, a young man working as a criminal for hire for a man called El Mago, is assigned to look for Leonora, but ends up keeping tabs on Maite and thinking of her as a potential girlfriend, given their shared interests.
When Leonora, her next-door neighbor, hires Maite to take care of her cat while she's away for a few days - and then vanishes under suspicious circumstances, Maite starts looking for her and soon finds herself deep in Leonora's world of dissidents, artists with secret agendas, and dangerous politics.īook Reviews 'Gods Of Jade And Shadow' Spins A Dark, Dazzling Fairy Tale As students protest in the streets, people disappear for political reasons, and political mayhem fills the city with warring groups and violence, Maite lives in a lonely, unhappy bubble.
Maite works as a secretary, lies to her coworkers about her weekends and imaginary dates, and loves to listen to records and read romance comics. Velvet Was the Night pulls readers into the chaos of Mexico City in the early 70s. However, Velvet Was the Night, her latest novel, is nothing like Mexican Gothic, and that's great because it'll show her new readers what others have known for years: Moreno-Garcia's work is like a wild pendulum that swings from horror to fantasy to noir, and she does them all equally well. Given the success of Mexican Gothic, which landed Silvia Moreno-Garcia in the New York Times bestsellers list and made her - finally - a household name, it'd be understandable to expect her to repeat that novel's formula a wonderful mix of gothic horror, historical fiction, and nightmares.
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