"Broken Like This"

Monica Trasandes was born in Uruguay and raised in San Diego, California. Her fiction has appeared in literary journals, and three stories have been anthologized. She now works as the Director of Spanish-Language Media for GLAAD.

Trasandes applied the Page 69 Test to Broken Like This, her debut novel, and reported the following:

I loved the idea of opening my book and finding out what was on page 69. Then I was really pleased to find out the page does indeed represent many important aspects of my novel. On that page, two of the protagonists, Kate and Angela, have just been shopping for provisions at an outdoor fruit and vegetable market near a busy plaza in Madrid, a few days before Christmas. The women’s friendship has had some ups and downs and this is a moment when, among the bins filled with tangerines and chard, the air full of holiday glee and the smell of caramel corn and roasted peanuts, they begin to get closer and to cement their role in each other’s lives, which will be more central than either realizes. I think the scene nicely gives life to the pleasure of falling into something new and important. You’re not sure what exactly this thing is. It resembles what’s been described as love, but it could be lust or something else. Whatever it is, you are excited to be in its thrall.

Learn more about the book and author at Monica Trasandes's website.

--Marshal Zeringue