A highly original novel by one of Mexicos most important storytellers Como agua para chocolate is written in the style of the serialized novels so popular in the nineteenth century. Each chapter starts with a traditional northern Mexican recipe. In effect cooking is the exclusive means of expression open to the female protagonist who doesnt entirely conform to the limited role that both society and her family have given her. Como agua para chocolate is a fresco of rural Mexican society between 1910 and 1933 and a portrayal of the deep-rooted traditions that the novels heroine confronts. Tita the youngest child of a charismatic woman is trapped in a destiny predetermined at birth: family tradition dictates that the youngest daughter must renounce marriage and devote herself to the care of her mother. Tita however is passionately in love with Pedro her eldest sisters husband. She is also pursued by John Brown an American doctor who offers her an austere and serene form of love. Twenty years later Tita and Pedro finally come together through fire and death.
