by Harriet Doerr

Born in Pasadena, California, in 1910, Harriet Doerr married and raised a family before graduating from Stanford University in 1977 with a degree in European History. She then enrolled in Stanford’s graduate program in Creative Writing and shortly afterward published several short stories that later became individual chapters of her first novel, Stones for Ibarra. Its success inspired a second best-selling novel, Consider This, Señora (1993), also set in Mexico. Doerr produced two short-story collections as well, Under an Aztec Sun (1990) and The Tiger in the Grass (1995). Like much of her other writing, Stones for Ibarra illuminates the cultural differences that can impede communication between Mexicans and Americans, while also suggesting that each culture has valuable lessons to learn from the other.

Events in History at the Time the Novel Takes Place

Historical background: the Díaz era and the Mexican Revolution...