Winner of the Casa de Teatro Prize (Dominican Republic),Damiana’s Reprieveis a fine novella distinguished by insight and sensitivity. It gives a candid look at a young opera singer—what happens backstage before and during performances, and what happens when unexpected turns in life leave one facing the not-so-cliché reality that the show must go on.
Damiana is the lead in Mozart’sThe Marriage of Figaro, and leading up to the opening day’s performance a sequence of unexpected events—from a surprise family reunion that forces her to analyze her past, to facing the consequences of the domestic abuse she and her siblings endured, and finding the answer to a very painful question—culminate to leave her world forever altered. Translated from the Spanish.
Born and raised in Mexico City, Martha Bátiz has lived in Toronto since 2003. Her articles, chronicles, reviews and short stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines in her homeland, as well as in Spain, the Peru, Ireland, the United States, Canada, and more. She holds a PhD in Latin American Literature, is an instructor of Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, and is a part-time professor at York University/Glendon College. In 2014, Martha was featured in Latinos Magazine among the Top Ten Most Successful Mexicans in Canada. In 2015, she was chosen as one of the Top Ten Most Influential Hispanic-Canadians.
A tale for our times! The novella is divided into two voices. First, there is the fragile voice of a young, successful opera singer, Damiana. The second is a third-person voice that accounts for Damiana's sister, Tamara, who seemingly abuses alcohol as a method of coping with her strange and dysfunctional family life. The narrative pivots around the discovery of their father's grave illness and the difficulty the broken family has dealing with it.
![Damianas Reprieve [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/2/3/2/2_2470836.jpg "Damianas Reprieve [Paperback]")