Before

One of BBC 's "10 Books to Read in August" "an altogether fresh take on the coming-of-age story...Boullosa manages to merge humor with panic seamlessly." -- Publishers Weekly Starred Review "Carmen Boullosa is, in my opinion, a true master."--Alvaro Mutis Part bildungsroman, part ghost story, part revenge novel, Before tells the story of a woman who returns to the landscape of her childhood to overcome the fear that held her captive as a girl. This powerful exploration of the path to womanhood and lost innocence won Mexico's two most prestigious literary prizes. Carmen Boullosa , one of Mexico's leading writers, has published nearly twenty novels. Her most recent novel, Texas: The Great Theft , won the 2014 Typographical Era Translation Award and was shortlisted for the 2015 PEN Translation Award.