The Coffee Diary - Hardcover

Caroline Kellems

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1596923636 ISBN 13: 9781596923638

Publisher: MacAdam/Cage, 2010

Synopsis

Two years after her father's brutal murder, Veronica returns to Guatemala to decide whether to sell her family's coffee farm. Stumbling upon the journal from her teenage years, she recalls crucial events from the past, in particular the arrival of her younger, illegitimate half-brother. This trauma changes her, and forever links her family to Jaime, the man who later becomes the town's corrupt mayor. Born into the lower class and yearning for respectability, Jaime turned to illegal activities to break the inevitable cycle of poverty. Now he is determined to have Veronica's farm by any means possible. During the years she lived away, memories of her country faded: the haunting landscapes, the beauty of the coffee farm, traditions, and faith. Upon returning she discovers — despite corruption, violence, and organized crime — a sense of belonging not experienced elsewhere. The country casts its spell on her and she realizes that Mayor Jaime, the villain she thought threatened her, is just a man shaped by the unforgiving nature of Guatemalan society.

About this title

About the Author:

Caroline Kellems, a native Californian, joined the Peace Corps in 1985 and was sent to Guatemala. It was here in the green fertile lands of Central America she met her husband, Eduardo Godoy, whose family has been involved in coffee for generations. She and her husband own a coffee plantation in Moyuta, in the Guatemalan department of Jutiapa, and have a coffee roasting company in Guatemala City. They have two daughters in college.

From Publishers Weekly:

Kellems's flat debut hinges on an agonizing decision 28-year-old Veronica has to make between holding onto her past and moving ahead with her life. After receiving an offer from unsavory Mayor Jaime to buy one of her family's coffee farms in Guatemala, Veronica returns to Moyuta, where she often felt like an outsider when accompanying her American mother: "I stood out with my honey-colored hair and fair skin. I was Guatemalan and American, yet neither." Going back means also confronting her father's recent murder and sorting through unresolved emotions about his adulterous behavior. She discovers her forgotten diary, reconnecting with her 14-year-old self, which may hold the key to who she can trust. Only after Veronica begins to investigate Mayor Jaime's motivations does she realize the level of danger she may be in. Kellems, who runs a coffee plantation in Guatemala, struggles to create convincing characters and tends toward overexplanatory dialogue ("I'm afraid I never forgave my father. I thought I had, but it's still painful to think about"), but her descriptions of a landscape clearly familiar to her shine. (Dec.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1596923636
• ISBN 13: 9781596923638
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320