On Mexican Time: A New Life in San Miguel

When Los Angeles novelist Tony Cohan and his artist wife, Masako, visited central Mexico one winter, they fell under the spell of a place where the pace of life is leisurely, the cobblestone streets and sun-splashed plazas are enchanting, and the sights and sounds of daily fiestas fill the air. Awakened to needs they didn't know they had, they returned to California, sold their house, and cast off for San Miguel de Allende. On Mexican Time is Cohan's passionate, evocatively written memoir of how he and his wife found a new home and a new lease on life--in this charming sixteenth-century hill town.

In an alternately humorous and poignant narrative, Cohan recounts how they absorb the town's sensual ambiance, eventually find and refurbish a crumbling 250-year-old house, and become entwined in the endless drama of Mexican life. From peso devaluations and water shortages to the romantic entanglements of their handyman and the local legend of a man who was "killed twice," On Mexican Time captures the indelible characters, little tragedies, and curious incidents of life in a distinctive Mexican town. At the same time it enfolds readers in the delights of one of the world's most desirable travel destinations.

Brimming with mystery, joy, and hilarity, On Mexican Time is a stirring, seductive celebration of another way of life--a tale of Americans who, finding a home in Mexico, find themselves anew.