Caramba! ─ A Tale Told In Turns Of The Card

Natalie and Consuelo are like-minded individuals who live in Lava Landing, CA. When they aren’t working at The Big Cheese Plant, they get all dolled up for the racetrack, or go for at a tequila float at The Big Five Four. They urgently need to get Consuelo’s father out of Purgatory: he won’t stop turning up in women’s dreams until they do. But that means a trip to Mexico, and Consuelo still hasn’t gotten over her fear of long car rides . . . .

Inspired by La Loter’a, a Mexican game of chance not unlike bingo, the novel is a joyous story of mamacitas and mariachis, fiestas and tupperware parties, rodeos and Miss Magma beauty contests. In Caramba! the American experience emerges in a brilliant new language and landscape, both touching and dazzlingly fresh.

Nina Marie Martinez was born in San Jose, California to a first generation Mexican-American father, and an American mother of Germanic descent. A high school dropout, she holds a Bachelors degree in literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz. In addition to writing novels, she is also a vintage clothes enthusiast and dealer and an avid baseball fan. She currently resides in Northern California where she is at work on her second novel.


From the Hardcover edition.