by Iris
When we shared our blog post about the discomfort surrounding that “American” in our name on social media, many of our followers were quick to point out that technically, America is not just the USA. And they’re right, of course, even if in our case it does refer to that specific country. Our founders (and in the early years, all of our stock) came from there, after all. Anyway, read the original post for more on that!
To showcase the incredible diversity of the American continent and all its many countries, we’re bringing you the second part of this series about books from the Americas. In highlighting works from an array of authors, places, languages, and backgrounds, we hope to inspire you to expand your literary horizons. Check out the previous installment here!
Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias
“As a hurricane twists through the streets of Barrio Ávila, Costa Rica, Teresa’s estranged daughter Lyra begins to piece together the mysteries lost in a blaze decades ago. In her desire to find the truth of her own family’s rupture, she uncovers a web of devastating betrayals, stoked by machismo, jealousy and greed.”
Unaccompanied by Javier Zamora
“These poems recall and are rooted in the experiences of a nine-year-old boy traveling alone for thousands of miles and confronting everywhere the realities of borderland politics, racism, and economic injustice. Calling into question the concept of the American Dream, Zamora reimagines home, fusing music and memory to address the quandaries that tear families apart and—if we’re lucky—inspire the building of lives anew.”
Mr. President by Miguel Ángel Asturias
“Inspired by life under the regime of President Manuel Estrada Cabrera of Guatemala, where it was banned for many years, and infused with exuberant lyricism, Mayan symbolism, and Guatemalan vernacular, Nobel Prize winner Miguel Ángel Asturias’s magnum opus is at once a surrealist masterpiece, a blade-sharp satire of totalitarianism, and a gripping portrait of psychological terror.”
The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera
“Graciela, a young girl growing up on a volcano in a community of Indigenous women, is summoned to the capital, where she is claimed as an oracle for a rising dictator. Endlessly surprising, vividly imaginative, bursting with lush life, The Volcano Daughters charts a new history and mythology of El Salvador, fiercely bringing forth voices that have been calling out for generations.”
The Afterpains by Anna Julia Stainsby
“Nearly twenty years after the death of her infant daughter, Rosy is still reeling from all that she’s lost. At the same time, Isaura dreads what may be coming for her teenage daughter, Mivi. A heartbreaking portrait of two families trying to cope with grief, isolation, and living far from one’s homeland, told in the voices of four distinct narrators.”
The Country under My Skin by Gioconda Belli
“Until her early twenties, Gioconda Belli inhabited an upper-class cocoon: sheltered from the poverty in Managua in a world of country clubs and debutante balls; educated abroad; early marriage and motherhood. But in 1970, everything changed. Her growing dissatisfaction with domestic life, and a blossoming awareness of the social inequities in Nicaragua, led her to join the Sandinistas. She would be involved with them over the next twenty years at the highest, and often most dangerous, levels.”
The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez
“It is said that the canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. But first, it must be built. Searing and empathetic, this character-driven novel explores the intersecting lives of activists, fishmongers, laborers, journalists, neighbors, doctors, and soothsayers — those rarely acknowledged by history even as they carved out its course.”
Selected Writings by Rubén Darío
“Rubén Darío is known as the consummate leader of the Modernista movement, an esthetic trend that swept the Americas from Mexico to Argentina at the end of the nineteenth century. Seeking a language and a style that would distinguish the newly emergent nations from the old imperial power of Spain, Darío’s writing offered a refreshingly new vision of the world — an artistic sensibility at once cosmopolitan and connected to the rhythms of nature.”
God’s Favorite by Lawrence Wright
“Drawn from a historical record more dramatic than even the most artful spy novel, God’s Favorite is a riveting and darkly comic fictional account of the events that occurred in Panama from 1985 to the dictator’s capture in 1989. With a journalist’s eye for detail, Lawrence Wright leads the reader toward a dramatic face-off in the Vatican embassy, where Noriega confronts his psychological match in the papal nuncio.”
