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Cross-Stitch

by Jazmina Barrera

A novel about friendship and coming-of-age from an engaging and immensely talented writer. Barrera, who has written five books — Cross-Stich is her first — has been called “the Tolstoy of Mexico,” but her writing voice is very much her own.

Translated by Christina MacSweeney.

The book begins with a death, when the main character, Mila, learns that her friend, Citlali, has drowned. From there, the plot follows Mila in the current day, as she negotiates motherhood and the publication of her book on needlecraft and embroidery, but the narrative also drops back in time to show Mila, Citlali, and Dalia when they were younger, growing up together in Mexico City, traveling together to London and Paris, and embroidering together. Interspersed in the story of their friendship is a history of needlework — an art form that has often been dismissed as “just women’s work.”

If you haven’t yet read Barrera, you should.

Paperback