Alburquerque: A Novel

Rudolfo Anaya

Jun 2015 · Open Road Media

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From the author of Bless Me, Ultima, a “wonderfully told and mesmerizing” novel of an adopted Mexican-American boxing champion’s quest for identity (New York Times).

Abrán González always knew he was different. Called a coyote because of his fair skin, the kid from Barelas found escape through boxing and became one of the youngest Golden Gloves champs.

But the arrival of a letter from a dying woman turns his entire life into a lie. The revelation that he was adopted makes him feel like an orphan and sends him on a quest to find his birth father.

With the help of his girlfriend, Lucinda, and Joe, a Vietnam veteran, Abrán begins a journey that hurls him from the barrio into a world of greed and political corruption spearheaded by Abrán’s manager, Frank Dominic, a con artist running for mayor with visions of building El Dorado on the Rio Grande.

Rich in spirituality, and taking its title from the original spelling of the city’s name, Alburquerque casts a light on the importance of ancestry while cutting across class and ethnic lines to tell a story of hope and displacement, love and regret, and the power of identity.

“A touching love story woven into a tale of treachery, a microcosm of the social and economic dislocations squeezing the American Southwest.” —Publishers Weekly

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Rudolfo Anaya was professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico. He received numerous literary awards, including the Premio Quinto Sol and a National Medal of Arts. He is the author of the classic work Bless Me, Ultima, which was chosen for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Big Read. Anaya’s other books for adults include Tortuga, Heart of Aztlan, Alburquerque, Rio Grande Fall, Shaman Winter, Jemez Spring, Serafina’s Stories, The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories, and Rudolfo Anaya: The Essays. His children’s books include Farolitos of Christmas, My Land Sings, Elegy on the Death of César Chávez, Roadrunner’s Dance, and The First Tortilla. Bless Me, Ultima was adapted into a feature film in 2013.