Immersing us in dark magic and revolution, this classic feminist novel from Mexico explores Indigenous rights and the lasting legacy of colonialism.
A new translation from acclaimed translator Ellen Jones, told through the voice of a young girl bearing witness to her family’s violence.
In Comitán, a small town near the Guatemalan border, a young girl is torn from the beloved Nana who raised her and taken with her family to their remote hacienda. There, simmering anger gathers force as the Indigenous workers, long subjected to exploitation by her landowning family, refuse their assigned role in the harvest. Meanwhile, the family patriarch, César, holds fast to the old order, determined to secure his son Mario’s inheritance at any cost.
Capturing the sensory immediacy of a child’s unsparing gaze, The Guardian of All Things is a haunting classic of Mexican literature, set against the land reforms of President Cárdenas in the 1930s. As rumours of dark magic spread across the estate and an ominous prophecy takes hold, the family is forced to confront who the land truly belongs to and the devastating cost of clinging to power.
Drawing deeply on Rosario Castellanos’s own childhood, this groundbreaking novel gives voice to those history has long sought to silence, especially the women and Indigenous communities caught between tradition and change. This fresh translation from acclaimed translator Ellen Jones renders the dialects of the region in their richness to reintroduce this powerful, timely classic for a new generation.
