I saw a lot of parallels while reading Fruit of the Drunken Tree. Ingrid Rojas Contreras did a magnificent job of capturing a young girl's coming of age in a Colombia that is divided amongst government, guerrillas, paramilitary and Pablo Escobar. What follows is a wonderful and heartbreaking story of an unlikely bond between young Chula and Petrona.
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Contreras deftly paints each scene (based in part on her childhood), with clarity and emotion. She does not spare us as she introduces us to the hardship that Petrona endures as she has to take up the mantle of breadwinner and supporter for her sick mother and siblings. 
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The stark realities of what one can be pushed to in moments of utter desperation; the horrors that befalls women, girls and the vulnerable when corruption festers; how far the evils of unrest can spread, encompassing even those who seem to exist beyond the epicentre of it's reach.
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It is a story of family, country, survival, new beginnings and most of all the strength of hope.
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Read this book. You won't regret it.
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