Description

‘Family Lore is full of beautiful prose, even-handed magic and all the pains and triumphs of intergenerational bonds’ KILEY REID, author of Such A Fun Age

The Marte women are preparing for a gathering that will change their lives forever

Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides to host her own living wake – bringing together her family and community to celebrate her long life – her sisters Matilde, Pastora and Camila are concerned. What has she foreseen?

But Flor isn’t the only one with a secret. Matilde has tried to hide the extent of her husband’s infidelity for years, and now must confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora – always on a mission to solve her sisters’ problems – needs to come to terms with her past. And Camila, the youngest sibling, has decided she no longer wants to be taken for granted. Alongside their struggles, the next generation of Marte women face their own tumult of family obligations, infertility, and heartache.

Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the intertwining stories of these sisters and cousins, mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, to ask the ultimate question: what does it take to live a good life, for yourself and those you love?

Publisher Review

Acevedo is a master of time. Family Lore is full of beautiful prose, even-handed magic and all the pains and triumphs of intergenerational bonds. Tender, moving and altogether lovely. Not one word is wasted here — KILEY REID, author of SUCH A FUN AGE There is potent magic in these pages, passed down through this lineage of powerful sisters who have captured my heart. How does Acevedo do it? Reading Family Lore is like an embrace, and I am filled with nostalgia for a family I have never had and could never have imagined — RUTH OZEKI, author of THE BOOK OF FORM AND EMPTINESS Acevedo expertly maneuvers through the complex and singular stories of each of these women and all that unites them. It was a joy to experience each character’s expressive and gripping story; to acknowledge their truths and to recognise some of the women in the lives of women around me. A remarkable accomplishment — ABI DARE, author of THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE Flor is throwing herself a wake and reminding us that “even a long life is too short”. So while we are here “let’s eat, and dance, and be alive”. Acevedo has written unforgettable characters who breathe new life into how we grieve, age, take care of each other. Family Lore is a big hearted novel, a wonderful debut! — ANGIE CRUZ, author of DOMINICANA Elizabeth Acevedo has made the transition into the adult world look easy. The true gift of a stunningly talented writer — JACQUELINE WOODSON, author of RED AT THE BONE Family Lore is a sweeping multi-generational story of a family of women whose special powers have helped them overcome personal, familial and historical challenges that both bond them together and at times threaten to pull them apart but ultimately navigate them into the full abrazos of love. Acevedo is in full command of her special powers as a storyteller of compassionate, capacious and lyrical imagination. Make room on your shelves, readers, for this strong new voice with an old soul and a deep well of understanding of who we wonderfully are for the brief time we are beings — JULIA ALVAREZ, author of AFTERLIFE Family Lore is a deeply Dominican book, full of raw emotional power. It is at once intimate and epic, one of the most resonant representations of a family and world like my own that I’ve ever read. There is so much to love about this wise, funny and original novel — NAIMA COSTER, author of WHAT’S MINE AND YOURS Only Elizabeth Acevedo could make an epic feel so intimate, so perfectly crafted and tightly drawn. Family Lore is a devastating exploration of the liveliness of the Marte women. No writer on earth transforms a page into a home with distinct emotional chambers like Acevedo, and here she does it with language that is equally lush and lacerating. This is how stories should be made — KIESE LAYMON, author of LONG DIVISION AND HEAVY Praise for The Poet X: The force and intensity behind her words practically pushes them off the page . . . This is a book from the heart, and for the heart * * New York Times Book Review * * I fell in love . . . This one will stay with you a long time — ANGIE THOMAS, author of THE HATE U GIVE