Bless Me Ultima: Rudolfo Anaya

In this story Antonio is a little boy when Ultima, who is known for her magic in healing, comes to live with his family. The book is about him growing up and finding religion, or figuring out what to believe. It is infused with magical happenings in a quiet town. Ultima is able to heal one of Antonio's uncles from a curse that was supposedly laid on him by three sisters. Ultima makes voodoo dolls of the sisters and puts the curse back on them, 2 of the 3 die mysteriously and the townsmen want Ultima tried as a witch. Ultima and her familiar, an owl, are killed at the end of the book by the father of the three girls as Ultima tries to protect Antonio. Knowing a little bit of Spanish would be helpful in reading this book as there are a lot of sayings that would lose their meaning if translated into English and dialogue in Spanish that add to the flair of the book. In addition to Antonio growing up too fast in the couple of years covered in the book, he has to deal with the pressure of his mother wanting him to be a priest as he tries to find himself and his beliefs while growing up.