FRUTO

"A book of great patience, empathy, and honesty about mothering and being mothered, and about the revolutionary act of caring. I was profoundly moved."—Aysegül Savas, author of The Anthropologists

"Writing through and with other people's stories and her own, Daniela Rea reconfigures everything we know about being mothered, being a mother or caring for one another. The author confesses she never wanted to finish writing Fruto, and it will keep being written by those of us fortunate enough to read it, to hold it in our hands like freshly folded laundry."—Gabriela Jauregui, editor and contributor, Tsunami: Women's Voices from Mexico

"A searingly candid and tender examination of the violence of motherhood. In Fruto, Rea refuses to shy away from the darkness of the domestic sphere. This book reveals the truth of mothering, which is love and labor, rage and tenderness. All of the women caregivers are here—the mother, the daughter, the sister, the grandmother, the abused, the abuser, the victim, the savior. Through diary entries and reporting other women's stories, Rea reminds us that we are all of them. I felt indicted on one page and forgiven the next. More than anything, this book made me feel seen."—Minna Dubin, author of Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood

"Perhaps no one understands Mexico—the country's women, its everyday people, its soldiers, its sorrows, its peoples' infinite capacity for resistance—better than the writer and journalist Daniela Rea. Blending interviews, research and her own personal experience, Fruto shows us maternity and the community that takes on the work of care in all their complexity, and in all their tenderness, as well. Every one of Daniela's words traverses the body, pierces straight to the bone. Her words are that powerful, her vision is that encompassing."—Cristina Rivera Garza, author of Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice

"In Fruto: Bearing the Burden of Care, Daniela Rea deftly explores motherhood, including her own, and the complex enterprise of caregiving. In elegant prose, Rea describes how the mothers she profiles simultaneously hold up the family and the economy. Her intimate reporting reveals women caring for their children and each other in a world marred by violence and oppression, dreaming of ways to make it more humane. With great tenderness, she presents evocative and often devastating narratives of women grappling with fearsome challenges: searching for a missing child, confronting an abusive father, trying to convince one's mother not to commit suicide. This book paints a profound picture of the long personal and ancestral arc of motherhood and compels us to move toward a better future."—Abigail Leonard, author of Four Mothers: An Intimate Journey through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries

"A book that penetrates the devastating reality of care work, offering understanding and invaluable company. As if it were a secret remedy, in Mexico we've seen Fruto: Bearing the Burden of Care circulate amongst sisters, mothers, daughters and friends. I'm sure that in distant lands it will be just as treasured."—Jazmina Barrera, author ofLinea Nigra: An Essay on Pregnancy and Earthquakes

"A perspective that illuminates the nooks and crannies of a country that exists thanks to the life that women build." —Brenda Navarro, author of Empty Houses

"In Fruto, Daniela Rea unravels the threads used to weave the web that sustains life: the web of care that makes humanity's existence possible."—Yásnaya Elena Aguilar, author of This Mouth is Mine

"In Fruto, the Mexican journalist mixes essay and chronicle to understand care through mothers who search for their missing children and women who raise children born from rape, among 14 other stories."—El Pais