Lost in Oaxaca

2020 American Fiction Awards Winner in Women’s Fiction2020 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards Bronze Medal in Fiction: Cultural“Setting out from the wealthy enclave of Santa Barbara to a mountainousOaxacan community to find her missing star pupil, Camille finds morethan she could have imagined. Warm and lyrical, Lost in Oaxacamade me long for the tastes and authenticity of village life. Add thesweetness of romance, heartrending injustice, and the suspense that allcould be lost, and you have a delightful and exciting read.”—Rossandra White, author of Loveyoubye: Holding Fast, Letting Go, And Then There’s The Dog“Take a little romance (Mexican style), add enough suspense to string areader along, pepper it with evocative language underscored by a writerwho knows her way around music, and you have a novel as engrossing inits storytelling as in the cultural nerves it touches. On the surface, Lost in Oaxacais the story of a woman, Camille, trying to unravel the mystery of herstar piano student’s sudden disappearance. The title quickly showsitself to be a bit of a ruse, however, a clever setup for a journeythat, in the end, brings catharsis to Camille and with it a chance toreclaim even more than she thought she was looking for.”—Deborah Batterman, author of Just Like February and Shoe, Hair, Nails“Jessica Winters Mireles’s Lost in Oaxaca is a beautiful, moving,and timely love story that will tug at your heartstrings, along withyour sense of right and wrong. Through the charming Camille andcaptivating Alejandro, you will leave this book believing that both loveand music can rise above the inequities, injustices, and bullies of theworld.”—Jessica Anya Blau, author of The Trouble with Lexie“Travel and awakening combine in [this] delicate romance… .Lost in Oaxaca is a vigorous, sensitive account of crossing borders to reimagine what love looks like when it’s poured without reserve.”—Foreword Reviews

Born and raised in Santa Barbara, California, Jessica Winters Mireles holds a degree in piano performance from USC. After graduating, she began her career as a piano teacher and performer. Four children and a studio of over forty piano students later, Jessica’s life changed drastically when her youngest daughter was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of two; she soon decided that life was too short to give up on her dreams of becoming a writer, and after five years of carving out some time each day from her busy schedule, she finished Lost in Oaxaca. Jessica’s work has been published in GreenPrints and Mothering magazines. She also knows quite a bit about Oaxaca, as her husband is an indigenous Zapotec man from the highlands of Oaxaca and is a great source of inspiration. She lives with her husband and family in Santa Barbara, California.

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