Laura Esquivel’s hit novel Like Water for Chocolate is getting two sequels, Vulture reports.
Esquivel said she’s writing a book titled Tita’s Diary that will focus on 20 years in the life of the protagonist of Like Water for Chocolate. Like its predecessor, Tita’s Diary will also feature recipes, along with art that includes photographs and pressed flowers.
Another sequel, The Colors of My Past, will come sometime after that. It will follow a descendant of Tita’s family.
Like Water for Chocolate, which spawned a critically acclaimed film adaptation in 1992, followed a young woman forbidden to marry her lover and who finds solace in cooking. In a 2019 essay for Kirkus, Gregory McNamee called the book—Esquivel’s first—“a masterpiece of magical realism.”
Esquivel also announced that a musical adaptation of her novel, directed by Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) is in the works. The show will feature music composed by La Santa Cecilia, the Los Angeles-based band, Deadline reports.
“In times of waiting many wonderful things happen,” Esquivel said. “Dreams take shape and become voices, harmonies, dance. The musical Like Water for Chocolate waited until a group of extraordinary dreamers came together…My thanks to all of you for dreaming the dream of a dream.”
There’s no word as of yet as to when the books might be published or the musical might be staged.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
