Mercy Amado has raised three girls, protecting them from their cheating father by leaving him. But Mercy’s love can only reach so far when her children are adults, as Sylvia, Celeste, and Nataly must make their own choices to fight or succumb, leave or return, to love or pay penance. When tragedy strikes in Sylvia’s life, Mercy, Celeste, and Nataly gather support her, but their familial love may not be enough for them to remain close as the secrets in their histories surface. Forgiveness may not be accepted. Fiercely independent, intelligent, they are The Amado Women.

Monday, 9/8 Learn more about why Désirée became a writer and who helped her along the way at Kelcey Parker’s blog, PhD in Creative Writing.

Tuesday, 9/9 Read an excerpt and get some insights from Désirée about what she was thinking while writing at The Next Best Book Club blog.

Wednesday, 9/10 Head over to [PANK] blog where Désirée is interviewed about her novel!

Thursday, 9/11 Over at the lovable Book Puke site, Désirée discusses the setting of The Amado Women and how it affects the story.

Friday, 9/12 The last stop is HTML Giant, where the author concludes by describing the life of a writer–the sad bits, the uplifting moments, and the support she received along the way.

Désirée Zamorano says that she was taken aback by the negative reaction to Sonia Sotomayor’s self-description as a “wise Latina.” And she is appalled by stereotypical rendering of Latinas in mainstream literature, saying that true-to-life middle-class Latinas are invisible in the fabric of American culture. Zamorano is a playwright, Pushcart Prize nominee for fiction, and the director of the Community Literacy Center at Occidental College. She also collaborates with InsideOut Writers, a program that works with formerly incarcerated youth. She lives in Pasadena, California.