This is the first English-language gathering of the voices of Mexican women, most of whom began to publish in the 1960s when an emerging middle class supported a boom in Mexican letters.

Well-known writers such as Elena Poniatowska and Rosario Castellanos, as well as writers just beginning to receive critical acclaim, such as Martha Cerda and Angeles Mastretta, tell diverse stories of Mexico's women from La Malinche up to present-day women trying to find their places in a country with a strong tradition of male domination.

The book's sections focus on the history of Mexico, the arrival of the Europeans and the mixing of races, the often confining spaces inhabited by women within the social fabric of their country, and the rich interior lives of women who live in these confined spaces.