Rosa E. King - Non-fiction

A charming and evocative account of life in Cuernavaca during the beginnings of the Mexican Revolution. Written by Rosa King, an English hotelier who settled in the small town near Mexico City in 1907, the book has a cosy, old-fashioned feel, as though narrated by a favourite grandmother. She rarely mentions her husband, who, I can only assume, died prior to their arrival, leaving her and her two children alone. Speaking barely a word of Spanish, she took advantage of the high esteem in which Europeans were held and built a successful business out of nearly nothing. What's fascinating is that this well-bred Englishwoman identified so easily with both the poor Zapatista rebels and the Federale soldiers who stayed in the hotel as alternatively guests, protectors and occupiers.

I bought this little treasure this from a tiny bookshop in Caxton that specialises in out-of-print and rare books about Latin America and the Caribbean and found it via the Heffer's Online Bookstore. I had a lovely chat with the man at Kew Books and he sent the book out to me next day. The internet's grand, isn't it?