Canyon of Remembering

By Lesley Poling-Kempes

Book Overview

There is magic to be found in this place so beautiful, it might be holy . . . El Ca on de los Recuerdos.Here between the mountains, on the edge of the desert, in a remote area of Northern New Mexico, you must come expecting the miraculous: People around the village still spoke of the miracle of the flying sheep, even if they did not believe it to be true. They still spoke of the young Garcia girl and how she saw five sheep tumbled in the wind ahead of a thunderstorm, wool balls at the infinite mercy of God's hand. Dominga's parents and brothers, and most everyone else around Mi Ojo, believed that seven-year-old Dominga had been struck on the head by lightning that day. Even when the sheep were found dead five miles out in Recuerdos Canyon, their wool tinged with hues of purple and pink, like the tips of the clouds at sundown, people around Mi Ojo believed Dominga's story to be nonsense. The miracle, they said was that Dominga Garcia was alive at all, loco or not. But Dominga knew el milagro de Mi Ojo was the five flying sheep, even if her neighbors were too stubborn to acknowledge it.And even now, at forty-seven, the beautiful widow Dominga Garcia de Jesus hasn't stopped believing in miracles; she's just desperately in need of one.In an extraordinarily rich pageant of characters and cultures, through a landscape so palpable it breathes with a life of its own, Canyon of Remembering charts the soul's journey to find meaning, forgiveness, and most miraculous of all . . . love.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0896724352
• ISBN13: 9780896724358
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Canyon of Remembering

I found this book to be a compelling page turner. The characters were complex and believable, the story one of redemption and rebirth. Much of what New Mexico is about. While there were some loose ends to the characters' lives, they were really peripheral. This is a book that fills you with hope about the greater community of man.

An amazingly well written story!

This is a must have book for anyone with any intrest in the Southwest, in the journey of the heart, in the journey of the soul, or in the occuurance of miricles! This book is about all of these, and so much more. Leslie makes both the people and the landscape come alive for the reader. It is a book that brings tears and laughter, and an incredible feeling of expansion to the heart and soul. Bravo!!

Excellent Southwest Fiction

Frustrated Santa Fe artist, Whitney Slope, escapes the political games of the Santa Fe art world by heading into the mountain community of Mi Ojo ("My Eye"-a fictitious community representing the real communities that can be found around Santa Fe). He finds his soul in the authentic, rural community and his story is woven with that of his new landlord, Dominga Garcia de Jesus. Slope is brought to a refreshingly honest new way of life as he becomes involved in the stories of other people outside of the affluent community in Santa Fe.The characters in this book are deep and well developed. The plot carries the reader through a world that is realistic to the area. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the Santa Fe art gallery community contrasted with the rural Hispanic communities in the mountains. The high quality of the writing and the storyline make this book a must read for anyone who is looking for an excellent work of Southwest fiction.

A touching New Mexico love story.

A book that touches the heart and soul and bring the New Mexico culture, people and land alive.