First published 2022
Luz Lopez reads tea leaves and washes laundry to survive in 1930s Denver after her brother Diego flees from a white mob. Diego worked in a factory and charmed snakes before violence drove him away. Luz possesses the gift of sight that runs in her family. She experiences visions that carry her back to the Lost Territory, her Indigenous homeland. Through these visions, Luz witnesses how her ancestors built their lives and how outside forces destroyed their communities across generations. She sees the pattern of violence and displacement that has followed her people. As the keeper of family stories, Luz faces a crucial choice. She must decide how to protect these memories from vanishing completely. The Lopez family carries secrets that span five generations in the American West. Luz discovers that survival depends not just on enduring the present but on preserving the past. Her visions reveal both the beauty of her heritage and the brutal forces that threaten it.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, magical-realism, native-american
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, keeper-of-secrets, visions
Setting: Denver, Lost Territory
Period: 1930s
416 pages · Paperback · Random House Large Print