Hopkinton Town Library Book Group: January 2024

"It's Lovecraft meets the Brontës in Latin America, and after a slow-burn start Mexican Gothic gets seriously weird." - The Guardian

Mexican Gothic

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2020)

Discussion - January 17, 1pm

From the author: Mexican Gothic is a fun romp through a trove of Gothic tropes, including a dark and gloomy house, an alluring yet dangerous man, a family with secrets, and things that go bump in the night. But it’s also a story about those other ghosts: the ones that were left like a scar on the land. - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

For more about the book: https://silviamoreno-garcia.com/writing/mexican-gothic/

Copies of the book available at the library. You can also Listen to or read it on Libby/Overdrive.

Prefer to buy a copy? Gibson's and Main Street Bookends will honor a 20% discount if you purchase the book at either place and tell them it's for this group. You can also buy the streaming audiobook from Libro (choose your favorite local bookstore) or other streaming outlet.

A Book Club Kit (pdf) is here. It has notes from the author about the genre, setting and context that are definitely worth reading. It also includes questions, a paper doll of Noemi (!), and a music playlist curated by the author. It doesn't, however, have the family tree that I really wanted while reading (or a map - I always want a map).

Additional Resources (check back for more through the month):

Here is a map showing the region of Hidalgo, where High Place is set.
Moreno-Garcia had this to say about the setting: "El Triunfo, the town in Mexican Gothic, is inspired by Mineral del Monte (a.k.a. Real del Monte), a silver mining town located in central Mexico, high up the mountains of Hidalgo. It was mined by the British in the 19th century, which earned it the nickname ‘Little Cornwall.’ Like in the novel, there is an English Cemetery and it tends to be misty and rather cold and rainy during certain times of the year." She suggests that "to learn more about the region where Mexican Gothic takes place check out the non-fiction book A Silent Fury: The El Bordo Mine Fire, by Yuri Herrera, which deals with a mining tragedy that claimed the lives of more than 70 miners in Hidalgo."
A Doyle family tree made by a reader
Pictures of the English Graveyard mentioned in the book
A worthwhile interview with the author https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jau1ZW-BcxE