The sensual and enchanting coming-of-age classic from the godfather of Chicano literature follows a young boy growing up in the llano (plains) of post-World War II New Mexico, and the generous curandera who introduces him to the sacred side of life.

"The best-known and most-respected contemporary Chicano fiction." ―The New York Times

"I pulled this baby into the light of life ... Only I will know his destiny."

Antonio Marez is six years old when the woman who helped usher him into the world comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. Venerated by some as a miracle-worker—and disparaged by others as a bruja—Ultima, a curandera, or healer, opens Tony's eyes to the spiritual roots of his culture, and introduces him to a magical, if sometimes frightening, new world: a realm in which she operates as a shaman.

Suddenly, the ordinary challenges and triumphs of childhood become extraordinary. As Ultima shows Tony how to cure ailments, reverse curses, and restore peace to those who have lost it, he embarks on a singular quest, one in which he probes the family ties that bind and rend him, questions the Catholicism that shaped him, and explores the Spanish, Mexican, and Native American influences that informed not only his heritage, but his very sense of self. And at each life turn there is Ultima, who was there the day he was born ... and will nurture the birth of his soul.

A rich and wondrous story that reveals universal truths about the human condition and celebrates the beauty of Chicano culture.

With a new foreword by author, playwright, and stage director Denise Chavez; a new afterword by award-winning journalist and author Carmela Padilla; and a new essay by Manuel Muñoz, a Macarthur Fellow and winner of the Joyce Carol Oates Prize.

"This extraordinary storyteller has always written unpretentiously but provocatively about identity. Every work is a fiesta, a ceremony preserving but reshaping old traditions that honor the power within the land and la raza, the people." ―Los Angeles Times Book Review

A PBS Great American Read