More than a century before a vacant two-story mansion in the 1100 block of North Flores was damaged by fire, prominent leaders of the Mexican Revolution often gathered there.

Alda P. Dobbs is the author of the novel "Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna." She was born in a small town in northern Mexico but moved to San Antonio and was raised on the South Side as a child. She studied physics and worked as an engineer before pursuing her love of storytelling. She’s as passionate about connecting children to their past, their communities, different cultures and nature as she is about writing. Alda lives with her husband and two children outside Houston.