Books

Cecilia Samartin's first novel, Broken Paradise, was received with critical acclaim last year. Now comes a richly layered story that challenges conventional views of family, miracles and love.

Tarnished Beauty follows a young Mexican woman, Jamilet, from her village outside Guadalajara to Los Angeles after her mother's death. She is searching for a miracle.

Born with a sinister birthmark covering her back from the neck to the curve of her knees, she is shunned by the superstitious villagers. The mark so frightens her peers that she can't attend school. Hence, she arrives in Los Angeles illiterate but hopeful of a cure.

She finds a job as companion to Señor Peregrino, an angry patient in a mental hospital. The old man is unlike the other residents. Though never venturing beyond his own door, he seems to answer to no one. He immediately asserts his superiority to Jamilet by observing, "You're from a place with dirt roads where people wash in the stream and take care of their bodily functions in much the same manner as dogs."

Despite his initial hostility, Jamilet is bound to Señor Peregrino when he discovers her false papers. He agrees to return them on one condition: She must listen to his story. What emerges is a magical tale of a pilgrimage along the legendary Spanish road to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, final resting place of the apostle James. Against the odds Jamilet and Señor Peregrino forge a soulful bond.

His story raises questions for Jamilet: What is she willing to do for love? What is truth? And what defines who we are and who we call family?

When Jamilet questions the veracity of Señor Peregrino's story, he says: "What I have learned is that we're always pretending, Jamilet. From the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we close our eyes at night. From the day we're born to the day we die – everything around us is an illusion. Reality emerges over time from these experiences in our lives that we choose to believe in."

Later she draws her own conclusion: "Did truth, even in its crudest form, draw you in, like the warmth of the sun? Could it claim itself to be by its mere presence? ... She simply knew that she believed, like she did in the sky above, although she'd never touched it, and couldn't prove to herself or anyone that the expanse of nothingness was indeed the sky and not an illusion."

Ms. Samartin writes with a fresh lyricism. Here is how she describes the mental hospital: "Voices called out their terse commands, as shrill as trumpet blasts. They were met with lingering groans that blended and twisted like smoke curling around and through the walls and doors that held them in." And here is her description of a first love: "Every cell was a hologram reflecting the endless possibilities born of her imagination ..."

Equal parts fable, love story and guide to spiritual healing, this book won't soon be forgotten.

Beatriz Terrazas is a Dallas-based freelance writer and photographer.

Cecilia Samartin

(Atria, $23.95)

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