#1 Los Angeles Times Best Seller
“Esperanza’s Box of Saints fills our souls with colors and flavors.”
Laura Esquivel, Author of “Like Water for Chocolate
“Esperanza’s road trip of self-discovery will no doubt evoke many smiles… An enchanting read that soon gets under your skin. Read the book… it’s real magic.”
Wall Street Journal
“Exuberant!”
Los Angeles Times
“A funny, romantic road trip that explores the seedy border culture of Mexico and Southern California.”
Newsweek
“Funny, offbeat and bold… definitely a new landmark in Latin American literature.”
Jorge Ramos, Univision
“A journey that explores the nature of sin and absolution, the pain of loss and the resurrection of desire.”
John Sayles
“A highly original, beautifully written, and heartwarming tale.”
Tony Hillerman
“A charming and compassionate fable.”
Carolyn See
González & Daughter Trucking Co.
“Entirely enjoyable… The novel has abundant black humor that comes across as a sly wink from the author… Escandón has created such a sympathetic and attractive personality in Libertad that I found myself rooting for [her].”
Los Angeles Times
“Libertad González mirrors her creator, María Amparo Escandón, in that both are prodigious storytellers, and as readers we mirror Libertad’s fellow prisoners in our urgent need to know what’s going to happen next. This is a warm and ingenious novel that delights from start to finish.”
Alexander Payne, director and screenwriter of “Sideways”
“Escandón has delivered us yet another work of art. This time it is a whimsical, humorous and passionate mystery that explores the love and hurt of a father and daughter on the run. Libertad, a well-educated Mexican-American young woman, is in a surreal prison in Mexicali and no one knows why. Her father is a Literature professor running from a murderous past, driving his truck and changing identities all over the United States. In ‘González & Daughter Trucking Co.’ freedom is a state of mind.”
Jorge Ramos, author of “The Other Face of America”, and Univision Anchor
“In this novel filled with humor and wisdom, María Amparo Escandón narrates the accidental lives of a group of profoundly human characters. Weaving a story where tragedy crashes with the will to live and tell, the author makes us laugh, cry and celebrate the ties that women have, even in the most difficult circumstances.”
Gioconda Belli, author of “The Country Under My Skin”
“1,001 nights in a Mexicali women’s prison. María Amparo Escandón’s beautifully-written novella invites us to do time with a population of hard-luck sisters sentenced to ponder the comedies and tragedies of their own lives González & Daughter Trucking Co. is about our compulsion to make events into stories and stories into bridges of understanding.”
John Sayles, author and filmmaker of “Lone Star”
“An ingenious retelling of Scheherazade’s odyssey–but on wheels and with sabor mexicano.”
Ilan Stavans, author of “Spanglish, The Making of a New American Language”
“This highly readable novel is a paean both to storytelling and to freedom.”
Booklist
“Exuberantly told, passionately felt, and at times knee-knockingly funny, Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co. is a heart-rending look at a community of women, with a cast of characters as indelible as the marks scratched into a prison wall.”
Boston Globe
“Written with an efficient and delicious narrative-sense style, in which reality and fiction are mixed until normally existing limits between the two territories are erased.”
The Dallas Morning News
“This breezy and witty novel is just the right nourishment for anyone looking for a quick escape and an easy, fun read. Don’t just watch for [Escandón]. It’s better to spend time pursuing her latest work… you might just find yourself having a sinfully good time.”
Hispanic Magazine
“Escandón’s accessible writing and entertaining plots have earned her a following in the States. Highly recommended for all bookstores and libraries.”
Críticas
“In this engaging twist on the 1,001 Arabian nights, Libertad González enthralls her fellow inmates in a Mexican women’s prison by telling tales as a weekly book group… Escandón, author of ‘Esperanza’s Box of Saints’, vividly describes the unorthodox prison with a wistful compassion for its convicts… Libertad’s stories keep her listeners–and us–so engrossed that the notion of freedom seems limited only by the imagination.”
Miami Herald
“These pages manifest the solidity of an author which knows and manages with ability her own novelistic resources. We are referring to her capacity for enveloping the reader in a seductive atmosphere and plot, so well constructed that it is hard to put the book down.”
Tiempo Libre
“An absorbing story told in a fragmented manner before a group of women fascinated by the suspense, drama and humor which the narrator prescribes with great wisdom and literary malice.”
Excelsior
“Hilarious and moving, Escandón’s new novel transports us into the life of an unusual jail where the protagonist feels free and finds strength in the friendship of her inmates.”
El Sol de México
“The critics have considered “González & Daughter Trucking Co.” a work of art.”
El Informador
“Gonzales & Daughter Trucking Co.” explores the image of the highway as a space where stories are endlessly multiplied… María Amparo’s key for closing the truck with us inside is literature itself. But also, her ability to play with elements that belong to the visual realm, such as zapping or the video clip, thus entrapping us in non-stop reading until the end.”
El Universal
“In González & Daughter Trucking Co., the final revelation is heart-rending and glorious.”
La Revista
“Hilarious and moving, Escandón’s new novel transports us into the life of an unusual jail where the protagonist feels free and finds strength in the friendship of her inmates.”
El Sol de México
“An exercise in fiction with narrative success and good character construction.”
Hoja X Hoja
“Resolute style in which the plot’s solidity and a light touch of naiveté prevails. This novel contains surprising pages that transport us to both sides of the border at once to discover unexpected stories.”
Diario Monitor
“The father-daughter relationship, friendship among women and parallels between prison and family unfold aboard a trailer on the road of literature and life, metaphor and reality.”
Confabulario
“A mix of comedy and tragedy about father-daughter bonds and the power of female friendships.”
By-Lines
“A touching story about the bonds of family and friendship.”
Random Revelations
Santitos
“…a disarmingly endearing film…”
New York Times
“Santitos is pure enchantment, a beguiling tale of love, faith and self-discovery told in a colorful, effortless folkloric style…”
Los Angeles Times
“Ultimately, Santitos celebrates the unity of the flesh and the spirit in a thoroughly refreshing manner.”
“…a magical movie…”
The Dallas Morning News
“In Santitos, Mr. Springall lurches from tears to laughter with the precision of a surgeon.”
“…the funniest Spanish-language film since 1992’s Like Water for Chocolate.”
New York Daily News
“With its irreverent wit, Santitos deserves the breakout success of its kindred spirit, Like Water for Chocolate.”
Chicago Sun-Times
“…wildly humourous and beautifully executed story.”
MovieMaker
“Santitos, a brilliant film based on a novel by Los Angeles writer María Amparo Escandón…”
Latin Style
“Don’t miss this very engrossing film and novel by María Amparo Escandón.”