The Virgin of the Box of Los Naranjos

In La virgen de la Calle de los Naranjos, Jorge Iván Jaramillo Hincapié reconstructs the memory of a Colombian neighborhood through two foundational houses and the voice of a narrator who describes herself as a “mediocre writer.” Through the lives of the Naranjo and Guapacha families, the novel reveals a world shaped by poverty, female resilience, and the silences that define the identity of a forgotten corner. At the heart of the story is Lita, a girl surrounded by a mystical aura, whose passage through life becomes a popular myth. With a prose that blends social chronicle and magical realism, the novel dignifies the marginalized and transforms everyday life into a poetic act of preservation against the erosion of time.