The Tree of Red Stars

Author's Bio:

Tessa Bridal was born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay. As a young girl, she witnessed the gradual military takeover of her country, and when she left for the United States, she was shocked to realize that these stories of her childhood were being rewritten by those in power. Bridal’s articles and stories have been published in numerous literary magazines. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and two daughters.

Quotes:

“Suffused with the poignancy of a memorial to lost lives, this debut novel . . . is an unblinking exploration of the way absolute power can destroy civilized existence. . . . Bridal's understated prose permits large moments to occur without melodrama, and small ones to build into potent revelations.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Tessa Bridal brings a fresh voice to Latin American literature. . . . Bridal recounts Magda's perilous activities with a chillingly understated sense of prose.”—New York Times Book Review

“This evocative novel is a moving account of a girl's coming-of-age and awakening political consciousness.”—Booklist (Editor's Choice '97)

“The finest of this season's regional books is this first novel by Tessa Bridal . . . notable in not being yet another product of a creative writing program, Bridal commands a style that is fresh yet restrained.”—Minnesota Monthly

“A skillful, utterly engrossing portrait . . . The Tree of Red Stars is an unpredicatable and exquisite story, its descriptions of endangered freedom and mental torture all the more chilling when one remembers its author, who now lives in Minnesota, grew up under the same circumstances as her protagonist.”—TimeOut New York

“Having scheduled a post-ABA day off, I picked up [The Tree of Red Stars] for a moment before plunging into the pile of chores that awaited me —and then spent the rest of the day standing in Madga's shoes, . . . experiencing a love of country that is rarely possible for Americans of my generation, . . . being gifted with such a generous definition of triumph amid adversity that I've had to reconsider my own definitions of success and failure.”—Feminist Bookstore News

“With a documentarian's flair for animating the collision of the mundane and the traumatic, Bridal . . . has crafted an elegy for the country that in her youth provided a lifestyle so alluring that its doom, when it finally arrives, comes off as an especially cruel fate.”—The Boston Phoenix

“[Bridal's] magical and disturbing depiction of Uruguay's military occupation illuminates a neglected aspect of world history.”—Willamette Week

“Unflinching in its depiction of terrorism and in its censure of the United States' support of an oppressive government, it is also written in lucid prose and with a keen ear for dialogue that makes for scenes of cinematic immediacy.”—Fodder: News from the Hungry Mind

“The Tree of Red Stars stands out with the simplicity and passion of the storytelling. It's a welcome addition to the growing body of fiction that depicts Third World nations from the perspective of one of their own.”—Sunday Oregonian