First published 2023
Rain falls on New York pavement as two Colombian expatriates cross paths, each carrying wounds from their homeland. Their chance encounter opens Patricia Engel's collection of stories spanning continents and communities. In Havana, a woman learns that grave robbers have taken her brother's remains just as her former lover arrives from Ecuador for a single night together. Miami becomes the backdrop for a desperate couple's schemes that will reshape their lives forever. These interconnected tales follow characters caught between worlds, searching for belonging while haunted by what they left behind. Engel captures the weight of displacement and the small acts of connection that sustain people far from home. Her characters navigate the space between memory and hope, finding that love persists even in the most uncertain circumstances.
Genres: short-stories, world-literature, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, interconnected-stories
Setting: Colombia, Ecuador, Havana, Miami, New York
Period: 21st-century
1 pages · Audio CD · Simon & Schuster Audio and Blackstone Publishing