Stones for Ibarra

by Harriet Doerr

First published 2004

Richard and Sara Everton arrive in the small Mexican town of Ibarra with ambitious plans. Richard wants to reopen the copper mine his grandfather once operated decades earlier. The couple settles into their new life in this remote place, navigating the rhythms of a foreign culture and the challenges of reviving an abandoned industrial operation. Sara watches her husband throw himself into the mining project with determination. But their fresh start carries a devastating secret. Richard has leukemia, and his illness casts a shadow over everything they build together. The mine becomes more than a business venture. It transforms into a race against time and a test of how two people face the ultimate uncertainty. Sara must find her own strength as she witnesses Richard's decline while surrounded by the beauty and harshness of rural Mexico.

Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, adult-fiction, family-drama

Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: fish-out-of-water, race-against-time

Setting: Ibarra, Mexico

Period: 20th-century

214 pages · Paperback · Demco Media

Content warnings: terminal-illness

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