Winner of the California Book Award for Fiction
A Los Angeles Times Bestseller
Best Book of the Year Lists
The New York Times Book Review - Los Angeles Times
San Francisco Chronicle - The Boston Globe
Scott and Maureen Torres-Thompson have always relied on others to run
their Orange County home. But when bad investments crater their bank
account, it all comes down to Araceli: their somewhat prickly Mexican
maid. One night, an argument between the couple turns physical, and a
misunderstanding leaves the children in Araceli's care. Their parents
unreachable, she takes them to central Los Angeles in the hopes of
finding Scott's estranged Mexican father---an earnest quest that soon
becomes a colossal misadventure, with consequences that ripple through
every strata of the sprawling city. Héctor Tobar's The Barbarian
Nurseries is a masterful tale of contemporary Los Angeles, a novel as
alive as the city itself.