Days of Ofelia

THE DAYS OF OFELIA, which was first published in 1942, is a book about Mexico that cuts through the surface and shows you the living people. ‘Vivid,’ ‘delightful,’ ‘completely real’ are worn-out phrases, but there are no others that do justice to this truly extraordinary narrative.

Ofelia Escoto was a little girl that the author, Gertrude Diamant, met when she went apartment-hunting in the City of ...