REVIEWS
Miss del Río
Mujica serves up an alluring portrait of the dazzling del Río. One of the five best recent historical novels. --The Washington Post
This dazzling look at a groundbreaking star shines. --Library Journal
Readers get a wonderfully full and complete look at the life of this groundbreaking actress in a tome that reads like a literary melting pot, filled with the history of film, women in the 20th century, the life of immigrants pre-WWII, and all sorts of lively romantic escapades with famous and not-so-famous men. Her life is rich and exciting, and Miss del Río does true just to this beautiful lady’s experiences and talents. -Book Reporter
frida
Vivid… Frida burns with dramatic urgency.--The New York Times
Brilliantly crafted, the book resonates with historical and psychological insight. --Library Journal
A delicious blend of fiction and biography… A captivating introduction to the life—and death—of Frida Kahlo. --Grand Rapids Press
SISTER TERESA
Engaging… Mujica’s fictional narrator, Sister Angelica, steals the show… Despite the many ugly historical events, such as the Spanish Inquisition, that figure into the story, it is surprisingly light and entertaining. --Publisher’s Weekly
An earthy, humanizing portrait. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Rich, gritty… Echewing sacred sentiment for rich, gritty anecdotes, Sister Teresa, Bárbara Mujica’s well-researched novel, reimagines famed 16th-century Teresa of Ávila as a vibrant and fully fleshed woman not above vanity, deceit, and a little pre-convent hanky-panky. --Entertainment Weekly
I Am Venus
Mujica’s prose is vigorous and intense, and the story is paradoxically both dark and illuminating. --Kirkus Reviews
A well-plotted read with engaging characters and rich detail. --Library Journal
The exploration of [the characters'] daily lives, with a particular focus on Velázquez’s wife and her ladies-in-waiting, paints a picture that is deliciously contradictory to the perfect representation demanded of Velázquez by the royal court. Mujica. . . . instantly creates a sensory world for her readers to inhabit. --Booklist
Far from My Mother’s Home
“Gotlib, Bombero,” a stunningly successful story by Barbara Mujica, recounts the efforts of Emesto Gotlib, a Chilean-born Jew, to be accepted by his Latin American peers... It is a tribute to Mujica’s talent as a storyteller and a writer that the reader fully shares in Gotlib’s anguish.” --Bloomsbury Review
Bárbara Mujica narrates with a singular mastery and luxury of detail, creating characters that are both remarkable and familiar... [She] has succeeded in transcending the narrative itself in order to convey profound emotions and to exalt human values. --The Washington Review of the Arts
Sanchez Across the Street
The author treats [serious issues] with a disarmingly light touch which effectively brings out the underlying message... The style is clear and direct and Mujica succeeds in establishing a comfortable rapport with the reader... These compelling stories capture the pathos and the humor of the human struggle to adapt and survive. --Américas Magazine
Imagining Iraq
Authentic and affecting. A bracing literary investigation of war and its emotional ramifications. --Kirkus Reviews
Wow! Amazing! These stories blew me away. I think this should be required reading for all Americans so they can appreciate our veterans. 5 out of 5 stars.
-- Netgalleys
As a veteran, I always knew that each time I volunteered for a deployment, I was also volunteering my wife and parents. With some guilt, I recognized I was asking them to do the hardest job. Through her stories, Bárbara Mujica becomes an eloquent spokeswoman for those who did that job. Veterans and civilians alike owe her a sharp salute. --Washington Independent Review of Books
AUTHOR
Bárbara Mujica is a novelist, essayist, short story writer and critic. Her latest novel, Miss del Río, is based on the life of Mexican movie star Dolores del Río, who was both a Hollywood sensation and a key figure in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Miss del Río was named one of the best books of 2022 by Library Journal and one of the five best recent historical novels by The Washington Post. It won second placed in the ScreenCraft Cinematic Novel competition out of thousands of submissions. It was a Target Book Club Book of the Month, and the audio version was an Apple Audio “Must Listen.” Please see https://miss-del-rio.com/.
Mujica’s novel Frida, based on the tumultuous relationship between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, was an international bestseller published in eighteen languages. Sister Teresa, based on the life of the Spanish saint Teresa de Avila, was adapted for the stage by the Actors Studio in Los Angeles. A Spanish version, Hermana Teresa, was published in 2017. I Am Venus revolves around the identity of mysterious model for The Rokeby Venus, the only extant female nude by Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. I Am Venus was a Maryland Writers’ Association Fiction Competition winner. A Spanish version, Yo soy Venus, was published in 2023.
Mujica’s short story collections are Imagining Iraq, an Amazon bestseller in the military fiction category, Far from My Mother’s Home, and Sanchez across the Street. Collateral Damage: Women Write about War is a compendium of writings by women from around the world on the trauma of war.
Mujica has won numerous prizes for her writing, including the E. L. Doctorow International Fiction Competition, the Pangolin Prize, and the Pioneer Prize from Dialogue on Diversity. She is a two-time Pushcart nominee.
Bárbara Mujica is a professor emerita at Georgetown University who specializes in early modern Spain. She is author of numerous books and hundreds of articles on Spanish theater, mysticism, the counterreformation, and women’s writing. In 2022, her book Women Religious and Epistolary Exchange in the Carmelite Reform won the GEMELA Prize for best book of the year on early modern Hispanic women.