Kissing the Virgin's Mouth Summary
Donna M. Gershten

Kissing the Virgin's Mouth Overview

Donna M. Gerstein’s novel Kissing the Virgin’s Mouth is fictional memoir of Guadalipe Magdalena Molina Vásquez, or “Magda” as she is called through the novel. The novel follows the unexpected twists and turns her life takes, starting with her impoverished childhood in a small Mexican coastal village called Teatlán (which is in fact real-life Mazatlán) to her eventual marriage to a wealthy American before returning to her pueblo. Kissing the Virgin’s Mouth is told by first person narration and explores issues relating to identity, the clarity of hindsight, and what a mother passes on to her daughters.