Once a promising young concert pianist, Camille Childs retreated to her mother’s Santa Barbara estate after an injury to her hand destroyed her hopes for a musical career. She now leads a solitary life teaching piano, and she has a star student: Graciela, the daughter of her mother’s Mexican housekeeper. Camille has been grooming the young Graciela for the career that she herself lost out on, and … and now Graciela, newly turned eighteen, has just won the grand prize in a piano competition, which means she gets to perform with the LA Philharmonic. Camille is ecstatic; if she can’t play herself, at least as Graciela’s teacher, she will finally get the recognition she deserves. But there are only two weeks left before the concert, and Graciela has disappeared—gone back to her family’s village in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. Desperate to bring Graciela back in time for the concert, Camille goes after her, but on the way there, a bus accident leaves her without any of her possessions. Alone and unable to speak the language, Camille is befriended by Alejandro, a Zapotec man who lives in LA but is from the same village as Graciela. Despite a contentious first meeting, Alejandro helps Camille navigate the rugged terrain and unfamiliar culture of Oaxaca, allowing her the opportunity to view the world in a different light—and perhaps find love in the process.
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This debut novel takes place in Mexico – specifically in the rugged mountain terrain of Oaxaca. What started out as a traditional romance novel ended up being so much more. I learned about the language of the area, some of the customs and the lifestyle of the people who live here.
Camille is on a quest to find her protégé and bring her home for her concert that will pave the way for her to launch her career as a concert pianist. Young Graciela had fled to Oaxaca to help her sick mother so Camille headed there to find her. Camille had been a studying to be a pianist until an accident caused damage to her hand and ended her career. She now taught piano lessons and Graciela was her one hope of feeling like a winner again. Camille is totally out of her comfort zone on the bus trip to Oaxaca and when the bus is in an accident and she loses her passport and money, she is in over her head. She’s befriended by a local man who takes her to his village so she can decide what to do next. She is definitely attracted to him but he isn’t happy with her plan to take her student home and knows that it’s more to help her feel like a success than it is for Graciela.
This is a story of self-discovery, love and forgiveness with romance sprinkled in. It touches on issues like immigration and the life of un-documented workers in the US. I learned a lot about the people and the culture in this part of Mexico and found this book to be both entertaining as well as educational. I highly recommend this book!
“Until she hears the bus driver swear, Camille isn’t worried.”
With this instantly captivating and encapsulating opening sentence, Jessica Winters Mireles begins her highly engrossing, impeccably written novel, Lost in Oaxaca. In fact, the novel is so well written, it begs to be reviewed on two levels: that of the writer, and that of the reader. Why? Because Ms. Mireles does what any good artist does – she makes the hard look easy. From a writer’s viewpoint, one notes the many plotting pitfalls so narrowly averted at every turn. But this bus does not take a fateful muddy plunge. Rather, it navigates its way artfully past clichés and easy expectations toward a most satisfying end. Along the way, the story moves with competence and skill derived from intense and committed effort. The reader does not see this, however. The reader simply enjoys a wonderful story wonderfully told.
Jessica Winters Mireles also navigates two distinctly different cultural worlds in Lost in Oaxaca, and she captures both impeccably. Her tangible knowledge of southern Mexico and the intrinsic warmth and communal caring of its indigenous people is without flaw. Every nuance of that culture is perfectly conveyed by the author. Ah, but the plot. A rather spoiled but highly damaged young woman, Camille, a piano teacher living with her mother in Santa Barbara, flies to Oaxaca, Mexico to find and return her recently disappeared student, a natural virtuoso and the key to Camille’s ultimate success. On the way to a small outlying village, the bus Camille is riding on takes its fateful plunge. Thus begins Camille’s cultural education and transformation, and the aforementioned wonderful story so wonderfully told. A virtuoso performance.
Woven into the story of a woman driven by the search to find her student in the rugged terrain of southern Mexico, Camille learns of the Oaxacan culture through the isolated community of Yalalag. Along for the journey, the reader experiences the heritage of the indigenous peoples, and hears of their languages and ancient religious practices that live side by side with San Antonio, a favorite patron saint.
Distracted in her search, Camille attends a festival with traditional music and dances, tamales, quesadillas homemade corn tortillas red and green mole, a soft white cheese, and a liquor called mezcal. But most importantly, she stops judging, looks inward and accepts the kindness and generosity of the people.
Mireles has written a courageous book for today’s readers, revealing unconscious bias many people deny, through the complex character of Camille. Camille is a woman of privilege protected by the manipulative relationship of a controlling mother. Blinded by her failed dream as a successful concert pianist she pursues fulfillment through her student’s success. In the process she repeats the mistakes her mother made with her and doesn’t embrace or even recognize the loving, caring and fragile person behind the talent. The deep mutual attraction of opposites is introduced through Alejandro who sees through the thoughtless responses of Camille as she is immersed in a culture she only knew as an observer. Alejandro challenges her biased reactions and leads her to new understanding of who she really is.