The Fault at the Center

About the Book

The Fault at the Center is a candid, lyrical coming-of-age novel that tells the story of Sandy Fischer, an American girl growing up in the beautiful yet violence-ridden Guatemala of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Sandy, a resilient and very observant girl, must face the many dilemmas emerging from the disintegration of her Jewish-Catholic home. Suddenly abandoned by their father and left to fend for themselves, the four Fischer girls and their mother no longer have a safe and clear place in their adopted homeland. While still perceived as expatriates, as gringas, the Fischers must do their best to find their way in local society.

Little by little, Sandy finds herself adapting to the prim, Catholic, seemingly safe world of señoritas. But what is the price, particularly for a girl growing into womanhood, of belonging in such a rigid and fearful world--of forcing oneself not to fully register the violence that is steadily intensifying in the country? And given a choice, will Sandy leave her adopted homeland or stay?

The Fault at the Center is, at the same time, an invention and a memoir, a reflection upon the narrator’s own distant/near relationship with her Guatemalan past.

About the Author

Sharon Rybak Portugal was born in Tarrytown, New York and grew up in the Guatemala of the 1960s and 1970s. She returned to the U.S. in 1976, where she completed high school. Her family left Guatemala in 1977. She studied literature at the University of California, San Diego and at the University of Texas at Austin, from where she received an M.A. in Spanish and Latin American literature. She has been a Spanish instructor at the University of Texas, Austin and at Middlebury College, as well as at several high schools. She is currently at work on a new novel.