Brenda Lozano

The lives of Gloria Felipe and Nuria Valencia intertwine around the kidnapping of a little girl that shakes the Mexican capital in the 1940s. Through a narrator who (in her own words) 'doesn't sing rancheras badly,' we witness the Miranda Felipe family's battle to recover their youngest member and the anxious upbringing of the Fernández Valencia family to save their own daughter from a potential danger that the police haven't been able to stop, reported by the media in the tone of a thriller.

Punctuated by various water-related images—rain, sea, breeze, pond, or puddle—that reflect the emotional state of its characters, Soñar como sueñan los árboles offers a critical look at the mandates of motherhood and also shows the possibilities of rebellion and self-determination opened up by women of the mid-century for us. Brenda Lozano's sharp and poignant sense of humour makes it impossible to put the book down until the final pages.

‘In this novel, language dances and leaves us with questions like open wounds: What are mothers willing to do in the name of love for a daughter? What is foreclosed for women by the medical and social system? Who has access to justice? What are the consequences of fear in a society? How do we come to forgive? Questions whose echo resonates in our current context. With a cast of endearing characters and a clever narrator, Lozano weaves in this novel the past of the 1940s in Mexico City and our present with surprising relevance and tenderness.’ Gabriela Jauregui 

‘[Brenda Lozano] chooses to shift the focus towards women and the social expectations that, at different moments in history but always with the same intensity, mark their lives and their decisions regarding motherhood and the workforce. [...] There is no net left unexplored, nor a character free from the web that both connects and ensnares them equally.’ El País México

‘A thriller that maintains dramatic tension over 132 pages. Brenda Lozano uses a fine brush to trace the character traits, their stories, the convergences and tensions between them, and especially the oppressive situation of those who have seen their daughter disappear. [...] The formula used by the author is original, changes perspectives, and lessens the dramatic tension. The reader [...] will be surprised. And may read the story again.’ La Razón de México

‘It absorbs the most thrilling elements of the thriller and historical novel to construct, from a female perspective, a story about the kidnapping of a girl in the 1940s Mexico. A plot with a classic form but with the flavour that new generations desire: like a delicious vegan burger.’ Coolt