First published 2013
Francisco Goldman married Aura Estrada at a Mexican hacienda in 2005. Two years later, during a vacation they had waited for, Aura breaks her neck body surfing and dies. Francisco faces blame from her family and drowns in his own guilt. He wants to die too but chooses instead to write about their love and his devastating loss. He gathers every memory of Aura he can find, from her Mexico City childhood with her devoted mother to her Columbia University studies to their newlywed life in New York. He traces their travels through Mexico and Europe, always viewing her through her own gifted writing. Francisco moves through the stages of grief, sometimes finding humor amid the madness of loss. He creates a living portrait of Aura, capturing both who she was and who she might have become. This is his tribute to a love both joyous and deep.
Genres: literary-fiction, grief, contemporary, memoir, biography-memoir, love-story
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Columbia University, Europe, Mexico, Mexico City, New York
Period: 2005, 2007
461 pages · Hardcover · Rowohlt
Content warnings: death