La Perla

An atmospheric, existential ride of a debut that hums with desire for freedom, for readers of Claire Vaye Watkins.

In lush prose, the stories in La Perla offer a moody, raw, and playful glimpse into the psyches of women adventuring toward the promise of self-discovery.

Roaming through the Southern US and Mexico, on foot or riding shotgun, Marmura’s characters pursue quests with tough determination and exuberant—if possibly reckless—spontaneity. Titles like “Texas Runaway Hotline” and “In a Trailer in Western Kentucky” set the scene for women in search of safety as they move through a heightened, sensuous world of trucks named Sharleena, men called Town Car Daddy and women nicknamed Pony, a world of Florida rooms, motels, hot summer nights, and relationships as intricate as conch shells. These are women who tread the line between adventure and shelter, who explore places, people, their own daydreams and fantasies, and who nullify longing through vivid imagination and the pursuit of grace.

These compulsively readable stories are a string of highly polished pearls that illuminate humanity at its most elemental: vulnerable to beauty, and possessing an instinct for compassion and inclination to explore.