L.A. WEATHER (Flatiron)
~ A Reese’s Bookclub Pick and New York Times bestseller ~
GONZALEZ & DAUGHTER TRUCKING CO. (Crown)
ESPERANZA’S BOX OF SAINTS (Scribner)
Born in Mexico City and currently a U.S. resident, María Amparo Escandón is a best-selling bilingual novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and film producer whose innovative style places her among the top contemporary Latin American female writers. Named a writer to watch by Newsweek, her award-winning work has been translated into more than 21 languages and is currently read in more than 85 countries.
Set against the backdrop of a scorched L.A. and the encroaching fire season, Escandón’s much-heralded third novel, L.A. WEATHER, focuses on an affluent Mexican-American couple who announce their impending divorce after nearly forty years of marriage, forcing their three grown daughters to take a hard look at their own relationships and to decide whether to stick together or burn it all down.
Praise for L.A. WEATHER
People Magazine Pick of the Week
Featured in Oprah Quarterly ~ Harper’s Bazaar ~ PopSugar ~ LitHub ~ Bustle ~ Ms. ~ CNN ~ GMA.com ~ E! News ~ Nylon ~ Belletrist ~ and more
“[A] lovely, compelling and occasionally brutal novel about a family on the brink of disaster, in a city similarly on edge. Captivating, sympathetic, funny characters and never-ending surprises (that even those involved compare to a telenovela) form a world for readers to get lost in…A feat of both plot and character…Absorbing, moving, comic and tragic, L.A. Weather will capture readers and never let them go.” ― Shelf Awareness
“A heartfelt, laugh-out-loud-funny novel about the highs and lows of family life.” ― Real Simple
“This gimlet-eyed, laugh-out-loud page-turner has a bit of The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney…along with echoes of one of the great L.A. novels, The Barbarian Nurseries by Héctor Tobar.” ― B&N Reads
“A phenomenal story about the Mexican-American experience in L.A: fun, quirky, heart-wrenching, very human and full of soul. Read it and realize how much we all share. María Amparo Escandón is a superb and unique observer.”
― Jorge Ramos, award-winning journalist and author of No Borders
“Take it from María Amparo Escandón―it’s not always 72 and sunny in Los Angeles. Known for her sly humor, she brings us a surprising story about family life in one of America’s most complex cities.”
― Reyna Grande, author of Across A Hundred Mountains
“There is no other voice as quick-witted and sharp as María Amparo Escandón’s. In L.A. Weather she displays yet again her talent for creating engaging characters who leap off the page and linger like old friends or cherished relatives. As the Alvarados face shifts of tectonic proportions, Escandón confronts how families test our understanding of not just ourselves, but of the very world around us.”
― Alex Espinoza, author of Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime and Still Water Saints
“Messy lives of women, well told. What could be better?”
― Rodrigo García, writer and director of Nine Lives and Mother and Child
“María Amparo Escandón is bold. Who dares to write about the weather in Los Angeles? Unlike the warm and benign climate cliché that can so easily be ignored, the complicated richness that makes up the Alvarado family can be appreciated from the first paragraph.”
― Laura Esquivel, author of Like Water for Chocolate
“A warmhearted domestic drama with political undercurrents makes for fun reading.” ― Kirkus
Escandón wrote her first novel, Esperanza’s Box of Saints, and its Spanish version Santitos, in 1999. A #1 Los Angeles Times bestseller, the novel addresses the universal fear of losing a child and a woman’s search for identity. John Sayles produced the film Santitos, based on her novel, for which she wrote the screenplay. To date, the film has received awards in 14 film festivals worldwide.
Her second novel, González & Daughter Trucking Co., and its Spanish version, Transportes González e 
Hija, were published in 2005. Set in a Mexican prison and along highways of the U.S. Southwest, it deals with women’s relationships, corruption and forgiveness within the context of a hybrid border culture.
Praise for ESPERANZA’S BOX OF SAINTS
“Esperanza’s Box of Saints fills our souls with colors and flavors.” —Laura Esquivel, Author of Like Water for Chocolate
“Esperanza’s road trip of self-discovery will no doubt evoke many smiles… An enchanting read that soon gets under your skin. Read the book… it’s real magic.” —Wall Street Journal
“Exuberant!” —Los Angeles Times
“A funny, romantic road trip that explores the seedy border culture of Mexico and Southern California.” —Newsweek
“Funny, offbeat and bold… definitely a new landmark in Latin American literature.” — Jorge Ramos, author of The Other Face of America and Univision anchor
“A journey that explores the nature of sin and absolution, the pain of loss and the resurrection of desire.” —John Sayles
“A highly original, beautifully written, and heartwarming tale.” —Tony Hillerman
“A charming and compassionate fable.” —Carolyn See
Praise for GONZALEZ & DAUGHTER TRUCKING CO.
“Entirely enjoyable… The novel has abundant black humor that comes across as a sly wink from the author… Escandón has created such a sympathetic and attractive personality in Libertad that I found myself rooting for [her].”— Los Angeles Times
“This highly readable novel is a paean both to storytelling and to freedom.” —Booklist
“Exuberantly told, passionately felt, and at times knee-knockingly funny, Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co. is a heart-rending look at a community of women, with a cast of characters as indelible as the marks scratched into a prison wall.” —Boston Globe
“In this engaging twist on the 1,001 Arabian nights, Libertad González enthralls her fellow inmates in a Mexican women’s prison by telling tales as a weekly book group…Libertad’s stories keep her listeners—and us—so engrossed that the notion of freedom seems limited only by the imagination.” —Miami Herald
“Libertad González mirrors her creator, María Amparo Escandón, in that both are prodigious storytellers…This is a warm and ingenious novel that delights from start to finish.” —Alexander Payne, director and screenwriter of “Sideways”
“An ingenious retelling of Scheherazade’s odyssey–but on wheels and with sabor mexicano.” —Ilan Stavans, author of Spanglish, The Making of a New American Language
“Escandón has delivered us yet another work of art. A whimsical, humorous, and passionate mystery that explores the love and hurt of a father and daughter on the run” —Jorge Ramos, author of The Other Face of America and Univision anchor
“1,001 nights in a Mexicali women’s prison…González & Daughter Trucking Co. is about our compulsion to make events into stories and stories into bridges of understanding.” — John Sayles, author and filmmaker of “Lone Star”
"A rollicking and hilarious family drama of telenovela-esque proportions that doubles as a fiery love letter to Los Angeles....By far one of the most endearing L.A. novels in recent memory." ― STARRED Publishers Weekly review of L.A. Weather
María Amparo Escandón
L.A. WEATHER (Flatiron)
~ A Reese’s Bookclub Pick and New York Times bestseller ~
GONZALEZ & DAUGHTER TRUCKING CO. (Crown)
ESPERANZA’S BOX OF SAINTS (Scribner)
Set against the backdrop of a scorched L.A. and the encroaching fire season, Escandón’s much-heralded third novel, L.A. WEATHER, focuses on an affluent Mexican-American couple who announce their impending divorce after nearly forty years of marriage, forcing their three grown daughters to take a hard look at their own relationships and to decide whether to stick together or burn it all down.
Praise for L.A. WEATHER
People Magazine Pick of the Week
Featured in Oprah Quarterly ~ Harper’s Bazaar ~ PopSugar ~ LitHub ~ Bustle ~ Ms. ~ CNN ~ GMA.com ~ E! News ~ Nylon ~ Belletrist ~ and more
“[A] lovely, compelling and occasionally brutal novel about a family on the brink of disaster, in a city similarly on edge. Captivating, sympathetic, funny characters and never-ending surprises (that even those involved compare to a telenovela) form a world for readers to get lost in…A feat of both plot and character…Absorbing, moving, comic and tragic, L.A. Weather will capture readers and never let them go.” ― Shelf Awareness
“A heartfelt, laugh-out-loud-funny novel about the highs and lows of family life.” ― Real Simple
“This gimlet-eyed, laugh-out-loud page-turner has a bit of The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney…along with echoes of one of the great L.A. novels, The Barbarian Nurseries by Héctor Tobar.” ― B&N Reads
“A phenomenal story about the Mexican-American experience in L.A: fun, quirky, heart-wrenching, very human and full of soul. Read it and realize how much we all share. María Amparo Escandón is a superb and unique observer.”
― Jorge Ramos, award-winning journalist and author of No Borders
“Take it from María Amparo Escandón―it’s not always 72 and sunny in Los Angeles. Known for her sly humor, she brings us a surprising story about family life in one of America’s most complex cities.”
― Reyna Grande, author of Across A Hundred Mountains
“There is no other voice as quick-witted and sharp as María Amparo Escandón’s. In L.A. Weather she displays yet again her talent for creating engaging characters who leap off the page and linger like old friends or cherished relatives. As the Alvarados face shifts of tectonic proportions, Escandón confronts how families test our understanding of not just ourselves, but of the very world around us.”
― Alex Espinoza, author of Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime and Still Water Saints
“Messy lives of women, well told. What could be better?”
― Rodrigo García, writer and director of Nine Lives and Mother and Child
“María Amparo Escandón is bold. Who dares to write about the weather in Los Angeles? Unlike the warm and benign climate cliché that can so easily be ignored, the complicated richness that makes up the Alvarado family can be appreciated from the first paragraph.”
― Laura Esquivel, author of Like Water for Chocolate
“A warmhearted domestic drama with political undercurrents makes for fun reading.” ― Kirkus
Her second novel, González & Daughter Trucking Co., and its Spanish version, Transportes González e
Hija, were published in 2005. Set in a Mexican prison and along highways of the U.S. Southwest, it deals with women’s relationships, corruption and forgiveness within the context of a hybrid border culture.
Praise for ESPERANZA’S BOX OF SAINTS
“Esperanza’s Box of Saints fills our souls with colors and flavors.” —Laura Esquivel, Author of Like Water for Chocolate
“Esperanza’s road trip of self-discovery will no doubt evoke many smiles… An enchanting read that soon gets under your skin. Read the book… it’s real magic.” —Wall Street Journal
“Exuberant!” —Los Angeles Times
“A funny, romantic road trip that explores the seedy border culture of Mexico and Southern California.” —Newsweek
“Funny, offbeat and bold… definitely a new landmark in Latin American literature.” — Jorge Ramos, author of The Other Face of America and Univision anchor
“A journey that explores the nature of sin and absolution, the pain of loss and the resurrection of desire.” —John Sayles
“A highly original, beautifully written, and heartwarming tale.” —Tony Hillerman
“A charming and compassionate fable.” —Carolyn See
Praise for GONZALEZ & DAUGHTER TRUCKING CO.
“Entirely enjoyable… The novel has abundant black humor that comes across as a sly wink from the author… Escandón has created such a sympathetic and attractive personality in Libertad that I found myself rooting for [her].”— Los Angeles Times
“This highly readable novel is a paean both to storytelling and to freedom.” —Booklist
“Exuberantly told, passionately felt, and at times knee-knockingly funny, Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co. is a heart-rending look at a community of women, with a cast of characters as indelible as the marks scratched into a prison wall.” —Boston Globe
“In this engaging twist on the 1,001 Arabian nights, Libertad González enthralls her fellow inmates in a Mexican women’s prison by telling tales as a weekly book group…Libertad’s stories keep her listeners—and us—so engrossed that the notion of freedom seems limited only by the imagination.” —Miami Herald
“Libertad González mirrors her creator, María Amparo Escandón, in that both are prodigious storytellers…This is a warm and ingenious novel that delights from start to finish.” —Alexander Payne, director and screenwriter of “Sideways”
“An ingenious retelling of Scheherazade’s odyssey–but on wheels and with sabor mexicano.” —Ilan Stavans, author of Spanglish, The Making of a New American Language
“Escandón has delivered us yet another work of art. A whimsical, humorous, and passionate mystery that explores the love and hurt of a father and daughter on the run” —Jorge Ramos, author of The Other Face of America and Univision anchor
“1,001 nights in a Mexicali women’s prison…González & Daughter Trucking Co. is about our compulsion to make events into stories and stories into bridges of understanding.” — John Sayles, author and filmmaker of “Lone Star”