Fruit of the Drunken Tree

In her stunning debut novel, Fruit of the Drunken Tree, Ingrid Rojas Contreras explores the violent world of 1990s Columbia. In Bogotá, seven-year-old Chula Santiago lives with her older sister, mother, and mostly absent father, who makes good money as an oil worker. While the entire country is gripped with fear of the powerful drug lord Pablo Escobar, the threat of car bombs and kidnappings loom just outside Chula’s gated neighborhood. The Santiagos hire a maid, thirteen-year-old Petrona who grew up in a slum and is desperate to provide for her family following the kidnappings of her father and brothers. Fascinated by Petrona’s peculiar behavior, Chula begins to uncover Petrona’s secrets.

Inspired by her own childhood experiences, Contreras moves seamlessly between Chula’s and Petrona’s tangled stories with irresistible prose and expert pacing. Fruit of the Drunken Tree looks at the delicate nature of female relationships, made more complicated by immense terror. Contreras’ novel is a tour de force, a tremendous start to a promising career.