The most successful authors I know enjoy the process of learning and got into the business from the pleasure and challenge of writing.

Impatience, mistrustfulness, and competitiveness with other writers can be very damaging to a career. Focus on your own content, find your own best voice, and enjoy the ride. This can be a wonderful business.
--John Talbot

By: Tanya Maria Barrientos

Dee Paxton is 28, recently widowed and pregnant when she applies for a job at a fabric shop in the Mexican neighborhood of her West Texas town at the opening of Frontera Street by Tanya Maria Barrientos. Dee's Mexican-American co-worker, Alma, pegs Dee as a stuck-up white woman, but when Dee collapses at the store, Alma finds herself obliged to care for her for a few days. Single-mother Alma gradually warms to Dee, as Dee comes to appreciate and love the Mexican-American culture of their border town. The plot is contrived and the story slow moving, but Barrientos's genuine affection for her characters and West Texas border life shines through.

A richly imagined debut novel of friendship and forgiveness, Frontera Street explores the physical, cultural, and emotional borders that shape our lives. Carrying secrets and an unborn child, Dee Paxton leaves the affluent neighborhood of her youth and walks straight into Frontera Street Fabrics-a little shop in the barrio only blocks from her home, but worlds apart. Though Alma Cruz is not impressed with her new coworker, she can't help but appreciate her need for a friend. A single mother herself, Alma knows what it's like to raise a child alone-and she's not without her own secrets. But there is a price to pay for months of lies, and certain lines can be dangerous to cross.

A warm and touching tale about the borders that keep us apart and the love that brings us together. Anyone who's ever struggled with a secret, found a new friend, or wondered about how the people on the other side of the tracks live will cherish a visit to Frontera Street.

By: Tanya Maria Barrientos

Tanya Maria Barrientos, a journalist for more than 20 years, is a staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Born in Guatemala, she grew up in a Texas border town, but now lives outside Philadelphia with her husban. She is currently working on her next novel.

When Nita DeLeon's mother died, she took with her a deep family secret. Now, almost twenty-five years later, Nita begins sifting through family history-and discovers a letter from her Aunt Pancha hidden in an address book, a letter that offers new insight into her parents' lives in Guatemala. As Nita uncovers the truth, she gains comfort in a man who helps her heal the wounds of the past-and finds hope for a more meaningful future...

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