Lists and Suggestions
List: Celebrating Latinx and Hispanic Voices
Mexican Gothic
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia, author.
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a m... More
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemi Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She's not sure what she will find--her cousin's husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemi knows little about the region. Noemi is also an unlikely rescuer: She's a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she's also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin's new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemi; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi's dreams with visions of blood and doom. Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family's youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemi, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family's past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family's once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemi digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness. Less
The Last Train to Key West
Cleeton, Chanel, author.
"In 1935 three women are forever changed when one of the most powerful hurricanes in history b... More
"In 1935 three women are forever changed when one of the most powerful hurricanes in history barrels toward the Florida Keys. For the tourists traveling on Henry Flagler's legendary Overseas Railroad, Labor Day weekend is an opportunity to forget the economic depression gripping the nation. But one person's paradise can be another's prison, and Key West-native Helen Berner yearns to escape. After the Cuban Revolution of 1933 leaves Mirta Perez's family in a precarious position, she agrees to an arranged marriage with a notorious American. Following her wedding in Havana, Mirta arrives in the Keys on her honeymoon. While she can't deny the growing attraction to her new husband, his illicit business interests may threaten not only her relationship, but her life. Elizabeth Preston's trip to Key West is a chance to save her once-wealthy family from their troubles after the Wall Street crash. Her quest takes her to the camps occupied by veterans of the Great War and pairs her with an unlikely ally on a treacherous hunt of his own. Over the course of the holiday weekend, the women's paths cross unexpectedly, and the danger swirling around them is matched only by the terrifying force of the deadly storm threatening the Keys"-- Less
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
Rojas Contreras, Ingrid, author.
A novel set against the violence of 1990s Columbia follows a sheltered girl and a teen maid, who fo... More
A novel set against the violence of 1990s Columbia follows a sheltered girl and a teen maid, who forge an unlikely friendship as the families of both struggle to maintain stability amidst Bogotá's rapidly escalating violence. Less
The Feast of the Goat
Vargas Llosa, Mario, 1936-
Returning to her native Dominican Republic, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral discovers that Rafael... More
Returning to her native Dominican Republic, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral discovers that Rafael Trujillo, the depraved dictator called "the Goat," still reigns over his inner circle, which includes Urania's father, with brutality and blackmail. But Trujillo's grasp is slipping. There is a conspiracy against him, and a Machiavellian revolution is already under way that will have bloody consequences of its own. This magisterial novel recounts the end of a regime and the terrible birth of a democracy, giving voice to the historical Trujillo and to the victims, both innocent and complicit, who were drawn into his deadly orbit. -- Less
Fever Dream
Schweblin, Samanta, 1978- author.
"A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits besi... More
"A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She's not his mother. He's not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family. Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale. One of the freshest new voices to come out of the Spanish language and translated into English for the first time, Samanta Schweblin creates an aura of strange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this absorbing, unsettling, taut novel."--Provided by publisher. Less
Sabrina & Corina: Stories
Fajardo-Anstine, Kali, author.
A powerful meditation on friendship, mothers and daughters, and the deep-rooted truths of our homel... More
A powerful meditation on friendship, mothers and daughters, and the deep-rooted truths of our homelands. Kali Fajardo-Anstine's magnetic story collection breathes life into her Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the land they inhabit in the American West. Against the remarkable backdrop of Denver, Colorado - a place that is as fierce as it is exquisite - these women navigate the way they navigate their lives: with caution, grace, and quiet force. In "Sugar Babies," ancestry and heritage are hidden inside the earth but tend to rise during land disputes. "Any Further West" follows a sex worker and her daughter as they leave their ancestral home in southern Colorado only to find a foreign and hostile land in California. In "Tomi," a woman leaves prison and finds herself in a gentrified city that is a shadow of the one she remembers from her childhood. And in the title story, "Sabrina & Corina," a Denver family falls into a cycle of violence against women, coming together only through ritual. Sabrina & Corina is a moving narrative of unrelenting feminine power and an exploration of the universal experiences of abandonment, heritage, and an eternal sense of home. -- Less
Clap When You Land
Acevedo, Elizabeth, author.
Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this ti... More
Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people ... In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance -- and Papi's secrets -- the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other. Less
The Book of Lost Saints
Older, Daniel José, author.
"Marisol vanished during the Cuban Revolution, disappearing with hardly a trace. Now, shaped b... More
"Marisol vanished during the Cuban Revolution, disappearing with hardly a trace. Now, shaped by atrocities long-forgotten, her tenacious spirit visits her nephew, Ramón, in modern-day New Jersey. Her hope: that her presence will prompt him to unearth their painful family history. Ramón launches a haphazard investigation into the story of his ancestor, unaware of the forces driving him on his search. Along the way, he falls in love, faces a run-in with a murderous gangster, and uncovers the lives of the lost saints who helped Marisol during her imprisonment."-- Less
It is Wood, It is Stone
Burnham, Gabriella, author.
"With sharp, gorgeous prose, It Is Wood, It Is Stone takes place over the course of a year in ... More
"With sharp, gorgeous prose, It Is Wood, It Is Stone takes place over the course of a year in São Paulo, Brazil, in which two women's lives intersect. Linda, an anxious and restless American, has moved with her husband, Dennis, for a year professorship. As Dennis submerges himself into his work, Linda finds herself unmoored and adrift, feeling increasingly disassociated from her own body. Linda's unwavering and skilled maid, Marta, has more claim to Linda's home than she can fathom. Marta, who is struggling to make sense of her country's complicated history and its racial tensions, is exasperated by Linda's instability. One day, Linda leaves home with a charismatic and beguiling artist, whom she joins on a fervent adventure that causes reverberations felt by everyone, and ultimately binds Marta and Linda in a profoundly human, and tender, way. An exquisite debut novel by young Brazilian American author Gabriella Burnham, It is Wood, It is Stone is about women whose romantic and subversive entanglements reflect on class and colorism, sexuality, and complex, divisive histories"-- Less
You Had Me at Hola
Daria, Alexis, author.
"After a messy public breakup leaves her face splashed across the tabloids, soap opera darling... More
"After a messy public breakup leaves her face splashed across the tabloids, soap opera darling Jasmine Lin Rodriguez returns to New York City to film the starring role in a bilingual romantic comedy for the number one streaming service in the country. A casting shake-up pairs her with telenovela hunk Ashton Suárez, who is worried about his career after his last telenovela character was killed off. A disastrous first impression smothers the embers of whatever sexual heat they might have had, so Jasmine and Ashton agree to rehearse in private. Rehearsal leads to kissing, kissing leads to a behind-the-scenes romance worthy of a soap opera. Will the media spotlight on Jasmine destroy her new image and expose Ashton's most closely guarded secret?"-- Less
The Time In Between
Dueñas, María, 1964-
"The Time In Between follows the story of a seamstress who becomes the most sought-after coutu... More
"The Time In Between follows the story of a seamstress who becomes the most sought-after couturier during the Spanish Civil War and World War II"--Provided by publisher. Less
King of Cuba
García, Cristina, 1958-
A Fidel Castro-like octogenarian Cuban exile obsessively seeks revenge against the dictator. ... More
A Fidel Castro-like octogenarian Cuban exile obsessively seeks revenge against the dictator. Less
Dominicana
Cruz, Angie, author.
Fifteen-year-old Ana Canción never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up wit... More
Fifteen-year-old Ana Canción never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to say yes. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year's Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a reckless plan to escape. But at the bus terminal, she is stopped by César, Juan's free-spirited younger brother, who convinces her to stay. As the Dominican Republic slides into political turmoil, Juan returns to protect his family's assets, leaving César to take care of Ana. Suddenly, Ana is free to take English lessons at a local church, lie on the beach at Coney Island, see a movie at Radio City Music Hall, go dancing with César, and imagine the possibility of a different kind of life in America. When Juan returns, Ana must decide once again between her heart and her duty to her family. Less
Zia Summer
Anaya, Rudolfo A.
In Albuquerque, Chicano PI Sonny Baca, who normally pursues absentee fathers, goes after the killer... More
In Albuquerque, Chicano PI Sonny Baca, who normally pursues absentee fathers, goes after the killers of a former girlfriend whose blood was drained while she was still alive, a probe that takes him through the many cultures of the Southwest. By the author of Bless Me, Ultima. Less
The Mambo King Plays Songs of Love
Hijuelos, Oscar.
Cesar and Nestor Castillo move to New York from Cuba in 1949 to form a mambo band, and eventually p... More
Cesar and Nestor Castillo move to New York from Cuba in 1949 to form a mambo band, and eventually play on I Love Lucy. Less
The Book of Unknown Americans
Henríquez, Cristina, 1977-
A boy and a girl fall in love. The hopes of two families collide with destiny. After fifteen year o... More
A boy and a girl fall in love. The hopes of two families collide with destiny. After fifteen year old Maribel sustains a terrible injury, the only hope her family sees for her recovery lies in the United States. Leaving a comfortable life behind in Mexico, the Riveras risk everything to come north. It's not long after they settle that Mayor Toro, the son of one of their new neighbors, recognizes a kindred spirit in this beautiful, damaged outsider. Less