What Would You Risk to Relive the Bliss of a Recovered Ancient Memory?
MONARCH BEACH, Calif., April 3, 2012 — /PRNewswire/ — Libros Publishing LLC announces the release of Traces of Bliss.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120403/LA80822)
The novel Traces of Bliss by Cecilia Velastegui (ISBN# 978-0-9837458-7-7, 304 pages, also e-book, Libros Publishing) has been selected by the Association of American Publishers in partnership with the national Las Comadres organization as a 2012 Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club. Velastegui said, “At the core of this novel is the enigmatic possibility that sensory triggers awaken ancient memories. I’m grateful that Las Comadres rewarded me for going out on a creative limb. I combined contemporary social issues such as elder neglect, immigration, and the damage done to the Amazon, to the thirst we have for uncovering facts about our genealogy and our ancestral memories. Traces of Bliss reveals how memory may travel through the blood––and how much we are willing to sacrifice for lost treasures from the past.” The multi-lingual author, who was born in Ecuador and raised in California and France, attributes the spark of this novel to the ancestral tales told by her maternal great-great aunts who recounted events from hundreds of years ago. The author’s experience as a marriage and family therapist and as a genealogical researcher is evident in this meticulously researched and high-stakes psychological thriller that transcends the boundaries of historical fiction. http://www.CeciliaVelastegui.com/
Traces of Bliss asks readers to consider what they would risk to relive an incredible memory, and then proceeds to tell a mesmerizing tale of what others have risked. In the affluent Los Feliz enclave of Los Angeles, five wealthy seniors recall vivid memories of their ancestors in ancient Iberia after their massage therapist applies a special Amazonian oil. The seniors’ foreign-born, live-in caregivers, each with a rich history, are inevitably caught up in the drama as the past collides with the present. Their collective lives are sent into upheaval as the self-appointed homeopathic Dr. Ruiz, a pathological liar, seeks to capitalize on their desires for ancestral memory retrieval and re-enactments by fleecing them of their riches for a moment of unbridled remembrance and bliss. http://tracesofbliss.com/
Foreword Clarion Review, who gave the novel a Five Stars out of Five review, compared Velastegui to writers Isabel Allende, Margaret Atwood, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa: “Traces of Bliss is full of surprises, switchbacks, and skillfully evoked vignettes of an ancient world of supernatural events that bleed into present-day reality. Its focus on strong but otherworldly females will remind some readers of the books of Isabel Allende and Margaret Atwood, while its blend of everyday happenings with step-through visions from the world of ghosts and spirits is reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa. Velastegui spins her lush tale with a sense of the sacredness of inner vision. Hers is a celebration of language that readers have come to expect from Latin American writers; Velastegui deserves to be recognized as a distinguished member of that group.” http://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/traces-of-bliss/
Velastegui’s debut novel was the acclaimed, Gathering the Indigo Maidens, which detailed the proliferation of Spanish Colonial art theft and the human trafficking for sexual exploitation of Ecuadorian women. The author donates the proceeds of her novels to the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force for the services they provide to victims of human trafficking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkkYtDgeggc.
Traces of Bliss, which includes a Reading Group Discussion Guide, is distributed by Atlas Book Distributors and can be purchased through online booksellers.
SOURCE Libros Publishing LLC
