Caramelo

Caramelo is a novel by Sandra Cisneros, the author of The House on Mango Street. Its narrator, Lala Reyes, comes from a long line of renowned rebozo, or shawl, makers on her grandmother's side. The most beautiful of these is the striped caramelo rebozo, which passes into Lala's hands just as the family history it stands for does.

The story begins with the Reyes family's yearly road trip from Chicago to Mexico City, which they call the other side. A caravan crowded with children, laughter and arguments makes the journey. Each year in Mexico City, Lala listens to the family's stories and tries to sort the truth from the healthy lies that have been handed down from one generation to the next.

The narrative moves between places and eras: the Mexico City once called the Paris of the New World, the music-filled streets of Chicago at the start of the Roaring Twenties, and finally Lala's own difficult adolescence in San Antonio, Texas, a not-quite-promised land.