If you’re looking for a way to honor Hispanic Heritage Month this year, why not settle down with a new-release Latine or Hispanic book for a cozy, fall afternoon? If you want subject- or genre-specific recommendations, like the best queer adult Latin American books or the best Latinx horror books, we’ve got you covered. But if you want a broader list of titles released in 2023, keep reading for 10 of the best Hispanic and Latine books to pick up at your local bookstore this month.
Hispanic Heritage Month takes place annually between September 15 and October 15 in the US, but it’s important to support Latine and Hispanic authors all year round. In addition to the book recommendations below, be sure to keep up with The Mary Sue Book Club, our monthly new-release column by Books Editor Alyssa Shotwell.
Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women edited by Sandra Guzmán
Daughters of Latin America is a massive collection of work from 140 intergenerational Latine writers, activists, and scholars from all over the world. Several featured authors are translated into English for the first time. Editor Sandra Guzmán has divided the anthology into 13 parts representing the 13 Mayan moons, and each one is centered around a specific theme. Voices in the anthology include Audre Lorde; Elizabeth Acevedo; Ada Limón; Berta Caceres; and more.
Gordita: Built Like This by Daisy “Draizys” Ruiz
In this autobiographical comic by Daisy “Draizys” Ruiz, the eponymous Mexican-American teenager Gordita struggles against body-shaming from her family, classmates, and even strangers. Gordita: Built Like This follows her as she bonds with other girls, seeks mentorship from the school guidance counselor, and figures out how to defend herself and be at peace with her body.
Last Sunrise in Eterna by Amparo Ortiz
Off the coast of Puerto Rico, elves live and practice magic on the island of Eterna. Once a year, they open their home and tutelage to three Puerto Rican teenagers who choose to trade their dreams for a week of learning elven magic. Unfortunately for 17-year-old Sevim Burgos, who’s been selling elf corpses on the black market to support her single mom after the elves killed her dad, she’s about to be forced into the Eterna Exchange to save her small family.
Last Sunrise in Eternia follows Sevim’s journey to Eterna after the elf prince Arlo kidnaps her mom as retaliation for her side hustle. As she works with him to learn magic, per the Exchange rules, she discovers that she has more ties to elven royalty than she ever knew. A classic story with several twists, this fantasy expertly pulls at the ties between individual desire, family, and ancestral roots.
Lucha of the Night Forest by Tehlor Kay Meija
Lucha of the Night Forest is a fantastical, queer story that explores destiny, autonomy, identity, family, and romance. The book follows 16-year-old Lucha Moya, who puts food on the table for herself and her younger sister, Lis, by hunting monsters with her innate magical abilities. When their mother, an addict, disappears, the sisters are forced out of their home. To save Lis from a terrifying predicament, Lucha makes a deal with the nightmarish figure El Sediento.
Then the sisters end up on the run with Paz, the acolyte of a forbidden goddess, and Lucha must decide between becoming a power player in a centuries-long, divine feud, or relegating herself to just a pawn. As her powers grow, so do her confidence and her sense of self. If you’re looking for a fast-paced read about the fraught relationship between gods and mortals, add this to your list immediately.
The Making of Yolanda la Bruja by Lorraine Avila
Lorraine Avila’s debut YA novel, The Making of Yolanda la Bruja, follows Yolanda Alvarez, a deaf, queer Bronx high schooler on the verge of being initiated into her family’s bruja tradition. Things go awry when the white son of a politician transfers to her school, Julia De Burgos High, and she has several visions of violence perpetrated by him. To protect her community in the face of white supremacy and unchecked gun violence, Yolanda has to rely on her family, friends, and ancestors. Written in stunning prose, this sharp examination of education, race, violence, and spirituality is a must-read.
Our Migrant Souls by Héctor Tobar
In Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino“, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Héctor Tobar reflects on his personal experience as the son of Guatemalan immigrants and shares stories told to him by his Latinx students. He aims to unpack the meaning of “Latino” as an identity marker in the US through both these personal anecdotes and by investigating the US-Mexico border “wall”; gangs and the emergence of cartels in media; Frida Kahlo; queer Latino communities; and more topics centered around the emergence of hateful tropes about Latin-American people. Sharply-written, honest, and informative, this nonfiction book should have a place on everyone’s shelves.
Saints of the Household by Ari Tison
Indigenous Costa Rican-American author Ari Tison’s contemporary YA novel, Saints of the Household, slowly unravels the events of a single afternoon that could irrevocably change the lives and futures of Bribri American brothers Max and Jay. To survive life with their physically abusive father and protect their mom, they keep their heads down and keep to a schedule—until they hear a classmate in trouble in the local woods, break up a fistfight, and bloody their high school’s star soccer player.
As Max and Jay struggle to reconcile this act of violence with who they understand themselves to be, they have to determine a way forward by digging deep into their roots. Told in alternating points of view with poems and vignettes, this evocative story seeks to examine intergenerational trauma and the cyclical nature of violence, as well as what it means to “do the right thing.”
A Tall Dark Trouble by Vanessa Montalban
A Tall Dark Trouble, Vanessa Montalban’s YA debut, follows two timelines in contemporary Miami and 1980s Cuba. In the former, twins Delfi and Lela face a family curse that poisons their shot at real, romantic love—but rather than encouraging them to embrace their growing magical powers, their mother forbids them from even acknowledging it. Then Delfi has a vision of a serial killer targeting brujas and the twins have no choice but to team up with their friends Ethan and Andres to stop the murderer in his tracks.
In the latter, Anita de Armas prays for mercy for the victims of her mother’s cult. She’ll do anything to get rid of her dark power, which allows her to speak to the dead. In the meantime, political tensions are rising and she must decide whether to go through with her cultish initiation, bearing in mind both her fate and the fate of her nation. This fast-paced, stunning take on magic and history intertwines the lives of Anita, Delfi, and Lela as they each step into their full power for the first time for the sake of themselves and their communities.
What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez
Twelve years after middle child Ruthy Ramirez disappears after track practice, her older sister Jessica spots a woman in the reality TV series ‘Catfight’ with red hair and an instantly recognizable birthmark. She and her younger sister, Nina, hatch a plan to drive to the show’s filming location and hopefully be reunited with their long-lost sister. When their mom, Dolores, learns of the plan, she and her best friend Irene join the road trip that will ultimately force all of them to reckon with the past and think about the future, which may or may not include Ruthy.
What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez explores deep-seated grief, the undying brilliance of hope, familial bonds, generational violence, racism, colonialism, and more as the characters attempt to grapple with a loss that may never seem final. Author Claire Jiménez manages to avoid “missing girl” tropes throughout, making this novel feel even more evocative and raw.
Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias
In Costa Rica in 1968, a lethal fire at the most lucrative banana plantation owned by the American Fruit Company burns everything—including evidence of a massive cover-up. Twenty-seven years later, Teresa Cepeda Valverde and her daughter Lyra are still picking up the pieces from this deadly event that altered the course of her family forever. Both women struggle with personal ghosts as they struggle to get along long enough to figure out what happened to their family that night, which is more complicated than either of them could predict.
John Manuel Arias’s Where There Was Fire digs into machismo, labor uprisings, capitalism, jealousy, and anthropomorphic forces of nature, successfully weaving everything into a gripping, impossible-to-put-down book with plenty of surprises.
(featured image: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Flatiron Books; Amistad Press; Zando; Page Street YA; Make Me a World; Grand Central Publishing; Black Josei Press; MCD / The Mary Sue)
