Otilia Umaga, the Mulatto girl from Martinique

Horacio Semeraro: "Syncretism effect for a great narrative. Thousands of stories and novels deal with mirrors. To write about them is a challenge to originality. Otilia Umaga the mulatto girl from Martinique -short novel, winner of the Juan Rulfo Prize 2008- totally deserves that distinction for its subtle sensuousness and the atmosphere achieved,  With a narrative as exotic as it is attractive, the author leads us to a mixture of Eden and Purgatory. The treatment of the passions and human behaviour in a torrid and sensuous climate coexists with the freshness and originality of her prose. It is Barugel?s prose, precise and erotic, that sinks the reader in that scenery with Senegalese drums rhythm and strong temperaments, achieving a syncretist effect in this surprising novel."