A talent for meaningful storytelling and exquisite prose has made Rudolfo Anaya a leading exponent of Chicano literature in English. Resonant with the haunting beauty, rich imagery, and age-old narrative traditions, Anaya's own work has won international acclaim, earning him a premier place in virtually every anthology of Latino writing. Winner of the PEN Center West Award for Fiction for his latest novel, Alburquerque, he is best loved for his classic bestseller, Bless Me, Ultima.

Now, that masterwork is reborn in this beautifully illustrated special edition. Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima enters his life. She is a curandera, one who heals with herbs and magic. "We cannot let her live her last days in loneliness," says Antonio's mother. "It is not the way of our people," agrees his father. And so Ultima comes to live with Antonio's family in New Mexico.

Soon Tony will journey to the threshold of manhood. Always, Ultima watches over him. She graces him with the courage to face childhood bigotry, diabolical possession, the moral collapse of his brother, and too many violent deaths. Under her wise guidance, Tony wil probe the family ties that rend and bind him, and he will find in himself the magical secrets of the pagan past - a mythic legacy equally as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America in which he has been schooled.

At each turn in his life there is Ultima - who delivered Tony into the world - and who will nurture the birth of his soul. This first hardcover edition of Bless Me, Ultima is enhanced by four specially commissioned, full-color paintings by noted New Mexican artist Bernadette Vigil. It is a volume to be treasured by all admirers of Rudolfo Anaya, from students and scholars to the general reader, whether they are longtime followers of his work or are discovering him for the first time.