When and where does the story open? How long ago do you suppose that was in relation to the time in which Tony tells his story? Why do you suppose he is telling us this story?

The novel opens with the adult Antonio Marez describing the events that occurred when he was six years old. For Antonio, his development begins not with his birth or with his first days of school, but with the arrival of Ultima, the curandera who moves in with his family the summer before his seventh birthday. It is with Ultima’s arrival that Antonio is first exposed to the magic of the world and the beauty and power of the llano. Antonio is our narrator and he is about to tell us a special story about his past.