Written nearly a decade after Lithium for Medea, Palm Latitudes, Kate Braverman's second novel and arguably her chef d’oeuvre, explores the intertwined lives of three women who await absolution and revelation in the bougainvillea- and violence-filled "barrio" of Los Angeles. Frances Ramos is a voluptuous prostitute who flaunts her wealth and is held in high esteem by the local street gangs. Gloria Hernandez is a dutiful young wife and mother—until her husband’s act of betrayal sparks her growing estrangement and fury. Marta Ortega, a prophetic old woman connected viscerally with the forces/elements of nature, nods as past and present mingle and quietly charts the cross-pollenization of her turbulent neighborhood, and of human destiny.
“Ms. Braverman possesses a magical, incantatory voice and the ability to loft ordinary lives into the heightened world of myth.” –The New York Times
“Stunning … Sentence after sentence unfolds like an endless succession of startling, exotic blossoms. It will be praised as establishing a new mythology, most likely a feminist mythology.” –The Philadelphia Inquirer
“We've had few fiction writers in our tradition who hold an entire book together out of such moon-spun inebriation with English … Palm Latitudes is not so much a novel as it is the text of a cantata for three female voices, one of the strangest, bravest, and, depending on your taste, possibly one of the most appealing inventions in recent years.” –Chicago Tribune
KATE BRAVERMAN is a native of Los Angeles who grew up surrounded by the counterculture of San Francisco. She has published several novels, including The Incantation of Frida K. (2002), Wonders of the West (1993), Palm Latitudes (1988), and Lithium for Medea (1979), books of poetry—Postcards from August (1990), Hurricane Warnings (1987), Lullaby for Sinners (1980), and Milkrun (1977)—and a collection of stories, Squandering the Blue (1990). She won the O. Henry Award in 1992.
Written nearly a decade after Lithium for Medea, Palm Latitudes, Kate Braverman's second novel and arguably her chef d’oeuvre, explores the intertwined lives of three women who await absolution and revelation in the bougainvillea- and violence-filled "barrio" of Los Angeles. Frances Ramos is a voluptuous prostitute who flaunts her wealth and is held in high esteem by the local street gangs. Gloria Hernandez is a dutiful young wife and mother—until her husband’s act of betrayal sparks her growing estrangement and fury. Marta Ortega, a prophetic old woman connected viscerally with the forces/elements of nature, nods as past and present mingle and quietly charts the cross-pollenization of her turbulent neighborhood, and of human destiny.
Praise
“Ms. Braverman possesses a magical, incantatory voice and the ability to loft ordinary lives into the heightened world of myth.” –The New York Times
“Stunning … Sentence after sentence unfolds like an endless succession of startling, exotic blossoms. It will be praised as establishing a new mythology, most likely a feminist mythology.” –The Philadelphia Inquirer
“We've had few fiction writers in our tradition who hold an entire book together out of such moon-spun inebriation with English … Palm Latitudes is not so much a novel as it is the text of a cantata for three female voices, one of the strangest, bravest, and, depending on your taste, possibly one of the most appealing inventions in recent years.” –Chicago Tribune
Author
KATE BRAVERMAN is a native of Los Angeles who grew up surrounded by the counterculture of San Francisco. She has published several novels, including The Incantation of Frida K. (2002), Wonders of the West (1993), Palm Latitudes (1988), and Lithium for Medea (1979), books of poetry—Postcards from August (1990), Hurricane Warnings (1987), Lullaby for Sinners (1980), and Milkrun (1977)—and a collection of stories, Squandering the Blue (1990). She won the O. Henry Award in 1992.
