James Cañón's "Tales from the Town of Widows"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: James Cañón's debut novel, Tales from the Town of Widows.

About the book, from the author:

When a band of guerrillas arrives in the mountain village of Mariquita and forcibly “recruits” all the men to fight for the communist cause, the women are left behind to fend for themselves. Now virtual widows, they must get beyond their grief and pull together to survive. As they go about rebuilding their lives, the women of Mariquita challenge the male orientation that once governed them so completely and eventually replace it with a vision all their own: an all-female utopia founded on the very socialist ideals the guerrillas claim to be fighting for.

Among the praise for the novel:

"Cañón’s strong and simple writing, which is touched by humor and magic realism, never falters.”
— The New Yorker

“Enchanting ... a rollicking and often shocking tale that Cañón tells with charm and bite.”
— Washington Post Book World

“The story of these women touches our deepest emotions.... Highly recommended.”
— Library Journal

“Prime magic realism à la Márquez, Cortázar and Vargas Llosa, updated with a pop-culture twist.”
— Kirkus Reviews

“The characterizations are drawn as compellingly as the storyline itself, which simply gets increasingly delicious as the pages turn.”
— Booklist

“A much-loved tradition of Colombian fiction has been gorgeously re-imagined.”
— Joan Silber

“Cañón is a gifted storyteller, as full of his radical purpose as Jonathan Swift, as enchanting as Gabriel García-Márquez, as brainy as Pamuk, yet his anger and compassion, as well as his humor, are distinctly his own.”
— Maureen Howard

"[A]n imaginative, hilarious, and wise exploration of gender and utopian idealism in Colombia."
— Michele Morano

Visit James Cañón's website and his blog, and read an excerpt from Tales from the Town of Widows.

His English short fiction has been anthologized in Bésame Mucho (Painted Leaf Press), and Virgins, Guerrillas & Locas (Cleis Press).

Read an interview with James Cañón.

The Page 69 Test: Tales from the Town of Widows.

--Marshal Zeringue