Bodega Botanica Tales: Carmen

Carmen is thirteen, period poor, and desperate for protection in a city where dangers lurk at every corner. Everything changes when she takes a bracelet from the local bodega and finds that it leads her somewhere else entirely — an alternate world, and a kind of magic that does not come free.

The novella moves between that childhood and the adult Carmen looking back, made to reckon with her own actions. Some magic can't be undone. Some lessons have to be learned. And some stories have to be told even when no one believes them.

Bodega Botanica Tales: Carmen is the second installment in Maria Rodriguez Bross's planned six-part Bodega Botanica Tales, following Bodega Botanica Tales: Jose. Each novella stands alone as its own account of childhood, trauma, resilience, and the difficulty of growing up. Written for mature teen and young adult readers, with crossover appeal for adults.