by Samuel Teer
First published 2024
Almudena has never known her Guatemalan father Xavier. When her white mother leaves for a special trip, Almudena must spend an entire summer with him in his deteriorating brownstone. Xavier welcomes her but expects her help renovating the old building. She struggles with his rapid Spanish, a language she never learned. The Latin American neighborhood residents each have strong views about how this young Latina should act and speak. Some question why she knows so little about her heritage. Others tell her she's not brown enough to belong. Almudena tries to find her place among these neighbors, each carrying their own struggles and dreams. The summer ticks away as father and daughter work to understand each other. Repairing the brownstone proves simpler than building connections between all these different people. Almudena discovers that creating a real family from strangers requires more than one season together.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, coming-of-age, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: bittersweet, emotional, intimate, introspective, thought-provoking
Tropes: cultural-identity, fish-out-of-water, found-family, self-discovery
Setting: Guatemala, Latin American neighborhood, brownstone
Period: contemporary, summer
320 pages · Paperback · Versify