El Hombre Que Mov�a Las Nubes / The Man Who Could Move Clouds - Ingrid Rojas Contreras

La autora de La fruta del borrachero nos entrega una deslumbrante historia caleidosc�pica que recupera el legado m�stico de su familia.

A Ingrid Rojas Contreras la magia le corre por las venas. No era una ni�a f�cil de sorprender: creci� en medio de la violencia pol�tica de los a�os ochenta y noventa en Colombia, en una casa siempre atestada de gente que ven�a a que su madre le leyera el futuro. Su abuelo materno, Nono, era un curandero de renombre, dotado de lo que la familia llamaba "los secretos" el poder de hablar con los muertos, predecir el futuro, tratar a los enfermos y mover las nubes. La madre de Ingrid, la primera mujer en heredar los secretos, era igualmente poderosa. Mami disfrutaba su habilidad de aparecer en dos lugares a la vez, y era capaz de expulsar al m�s terco de los esp�ritus usando apenas un vaso de agua.

Rojas Contreras sol�a creer que este legado pertenec�a solo a su madre y a su abuelo, hasta que un d�a, en sus veinte y viviendo en Estados Unidos, sufri� una herida en la cabeza que le provoc� amnesia. Mientras recuperaba la memoria, su familia le cont� que esto hab�a sucedido antes: d�cadas atr�s Mami hab�a tenido una ca�da que tambi�n le hab�a provocado amnesia; y cuando se recuper�, descubri� que ten�a acceso a los secretos.

En 2012, urgida por un sue�o compartido con Mami y sus hermanas, y por la necesidad imperiosa de volver a aprender la historia familiar tras su p�rdida de la memoria, Rojas Contreras decidi� acompa�ar a su madre en un viaje a Colombia para exhumar los restos de Nono. Con la gu�a impredecible, testaruda y casi siempre divertida de Mami, rastrea sus or�genes ind�genas y espa�oles, revelando la violenta historia colonial que, con el paso del tiempo, separar�a a su familia mestiza en dos grupos: los que piensan que los secretos son un don y los que creen que son una maldici�n.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

From the author of the critically acclaimed Fruit of the Drunken Treecomes a dazzling, kaleidoscopic memoir about liberating herself fromWestern notions of fact and fiction to reclaim her family's otherworldlylegacy.

For Ingrid Rojas Contreras, magic runs in the family. Growing up in the Colombia of the 1980's and 1990's in a house where "what did you dream?"was asked in place of "how are you?" her world was laced with prophecy andviolence. Her maternal grandfather, Nono, was a renowned curandero, acommunity healer gifted with the ability to talk to the dead, tell the future, curethe sick, and move the clouds. As a young girl, Rojas Contreras eavesdroppedon her mother's fortune-telling business from the stairs and waited eagerly forthe moments when Mami appeared in two places at once. She was accustomedto letting the ghosts in.

So when Ingrid, now living in the U.S., suffered a head injury in her 20's thatleft her with amnesia --an accident eerily similar to a fall that had put hermother in a coma at the age of 8, from which she woke with not just amnesia, but the ability to see ghosts-- the family assumes "the secrets" have finally beenpassed down to the next generation. But as Ingrid recovers her memories, theydon't come with supernatural abilities. Rather, she is consumed by a powerfulurge to learn even more about her heritage than she knew before the accident. Spurred by a shared dream among Mami and her sisters, wherein Nonocommunicates that he is unable to rest peacefully in the afterlife, Ingrid joinsher mother on a journey home to Colombia to disinter her grandfather'sremains. With her mother as her unpredictable, stubborn and often hilariousguide, Ingrid traces her lineage back to her indigenous roots, uncovering theviolent and rigid colonial narrative that would eventually break her family intotwo camps: those who believe the secrets are a gift, and those who areconvinced they are a curse.

Interweaving family stories more enchanting than any novel, resurrected Colombian history, and her own deeply personal reckonings with the bounds ofreality, Rojas Contreras writes her way through the incomprehensible and intoher inheritance. The result is a luminous testament to the power of storytellingas a healing art and an invitation to embrace the extraordinary.