Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories (Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction)
Vaz's collection of beautifully written short stories are steeped in tragedy and religious mysticism. In the title story, Isabel Serpa and her aunt Connie need a miracle to combat their landlord's rent increase; the solution might be a virgin sighting among the artichokes in the yard, but 17-year-old Isabel is skeptical of her aunt's plan: all prayers were requests for immediate action, and no one was willing to sit inside any mystery. In another, a mother's 17 years of grief become a compulsive, ever-expanding art exhibit in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: I take up half a wall with space reserved for many years more... it's impossible for me to stop. Another finds a gambler using ill-gotten funds to purchase his daughter a spectacular cape for the Portuguese Holy Ghost Festival, hoping to attract a Hollywood talent scout but also to relieve her of the all-consuming grief she holds for her deceased grandfather. Vaz is a soulful writer who understands her protagonists' complex lives, as well as the way religious beliefs can assert themselves most powerfully after leaving native soil.(Oct.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.