Borodale, Jane. The Book of Fires.Penguin Books, 2009.

It is 1752, and seventeen-year-old Agnes Trussel is pregnant with an unwanted child. Facing certain misery at home, she flees rural Sussex for London. Overwhelmed by the crowded, grim streets, Agnes finds herself at the home of Mr. J. Blacklock, a brooding fireworks maker who hires her as an apprentice. As she learns to make joins his quest to make the most spectacular fireworks the world has ever seen. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on Agnes’s secret-but her mysterious mentor is hatching plans of his own.

Jensen, Jane. Millennium Rising. Ballantine Publishing Group, 1999.

Shortly after the change of the Millennium, in a tiny Mexican village, people of different faiths are flocking to Santa Pelagia from all over the planet to witness a miraculous visitation. Among them are twenty-four who experience something more personal: a messenger clothed in the raiments of his or her own beliefs--the Virgin Mary, an angel of Islam, the Hindu goddess Kali. And each is given the same terrifying message: the Day of Judgment is at hand.

Rulfo, Juan. Translated from the Spanish by Ilan Stavans and Harold Augenbraum. The Plain in Flames. University of Texas Press, 2012 (Originally published in 1953.)

Considered a classic of Mexican literature, Juan Rulfo’s short story collection is set during the post-Revolutionary upheaval of 1920s Mexico. In these powerful stories, rural Mexicans living in poverty become disillusioned with the broken promises of the Mexican Revolution. This translation preserves the author’s lyricism and the Spanish dialogue’s “peasantisms”.

Urrea, Luis Alberto. The Hummingbird’s Daughter. Little, Brown and Company, 2005.

It is 1889, and civil war is brewing in Mexico. A 16-year-old girl, Teresita, the illegitimate but beloved daughter of the wealthy and powerful rancher Don Tomas Urrea, wakes from the strangest dream—a dream that she has died. Only it was not a dream. This passionate and rebellious young woman has arisen from death with a power to heal—but it will take all her faith to endure the trials that await her and her family now that she has become the Saint of Cabora.

Paz, Octavio. The Labyrinth of Solitude. Translated from the Spanish by Lysander Kemp, Yara Milos and Rachel Phillips Belash. Grove Press, 1989 (Originally published in 1950).

This short story collection by Nobel-prize winning author Octavio Paz explores Mexico’s national identity, which has been shaped by both colonialism and indigenous cultures. The stories are both poetic and political, addressing topics such as the relationship between Mexico and the United States and the foundational myths of Mexican culture.

Bolaño, Roberto. The Savage Detectives. Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer. Picador, 2007. (Originally published in 1998).

New Year’s Eve 1975, Mexico City. Two hunted men leave town in a hurry, on the desert-bound trail of a vanished poet. Spanning two decades and crossing continents, this remarkable quest is a journey told and shared by a generation of lovers, rebels and readers, whose testimonies are woven together into one of the most dazzling Latin American novels of the twentieth century