Lost in Sierra

Ana's beloved Abuela (grandmother) has died, leaving her a ticket to Spain, a place Ana knows only through family stories. Despite her reluctance, Ana realizes that Abuela must have had strong reasons, so she decides she must go. She will spend the summer with her great-aunt in the mountain village of Sierra.Ana has a special talent: she's good at finding things others have hidden. She and Abuela loved to play a game together. Abuela would hide something in her store, and Ana would find it. In Spain, Ana discovers a family mystery worthy of her talents. She sets out to unravel secrets and deceptions from the past and to find a long-lost family member--a young man lost in the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. But she also discovers there are people in the village who don't want her to find him.

Ana finds clues all around her in Sierra, in the village and in the nearby caves--caves that could hide a desperate man. As her Spanish summer draws to a close, Ana's search takes her back from Spain to Canada.

Diana Vazquez studied film and video at the Ontario College of Art and has spent several years writing and producing her own short and independent dramas and experimental films. Her first juvenile fiction novel, Hannah, was published by Coteau Books.