November 2019 Book of the Month
Cantoras: A Novel
by Carolina de Robertis
Published by: Knopf Doubleday Publishing
ISBN-10: 0525521690
ISBN-13: 978-0525521693
SYNOPSIS:
In 1977 Uruguay, a military government crushed political dissent with ruthless force. In this environment, where the everyday rights of people are under attack, homosexuality is a dangerous transgression to be punished. And yet Romina, Flaca, Anita “La Venus,” Paz, and Malena—five cantoras, women who “sing”—somehow, miraculously, find one another. Together, they discover an isolated, nearly uninhabited cape, Cabo Polonio, which they claim as their secret sanctuary. Over the next thirty-five years, their lives move back and forth between Cabo Polonio and Montevideo, the city they call home, as they return, sometimes together, sometimes in pairs, with lovers in tow, or alone. And throughout, again and again, the women will be tested—by their families, lovers, society, and one another—as they fight to live authentic lives.
A genre-defining novel and De Robertis’s masterpiece, Cantoras is a breathtaking portrait of queer love, community, forgotten history, and the strength of the human spirit. At once timeless and groundbreaking, Cantoras is a tale about the fire in all our souls and those who make it burn.
Author webpage: http://www.carolinaderobertis.com
Twitter: @caroderobertis
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolinaderobertis/
BIO:
CAROLINA DE ROBERTIS is a writer of Uruguayan origins and the author of The Gods of Tango, Perla, and the international best seller The Invisible Mountain. Her novels have been translated into seventeen languages and have garnered a Stonewall Book Award, Italy’s Rhegium Julii Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and numerous other honors. She is also a translator of Latin American and Spanish literature and editor of the anthology Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times. In 2017, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts named De Robertis on its 100 List of “people, organizations, and movements that are shaping the future of culture.” She teaches at San Francisco State University and lives in Oakland, California, with her wife and two children.
November 2019 Conversations Book
They Could Have Named Her Anything
by Stephanie Jimenez
Published by: Litte a
ISBN-10: 154200375X
ISBN-13: 978-1542003759
SYNOPSIS:
Racism, class, and betrayal collide in this poignant debut novel about restoring the broken bonds of family and friendship.
Every morning, seventeen-year-old Maria Anís Rosario takes the subway an hour from her boisterous and close-knit family in Queens to her private high school on the Upper East Side, where she struggles to fit in as one of the only Latina students—until Rocky welcomes her into this new life. White, rebellious, and ignored by her wealthy parents, Rocky uses her money toward one goal: to get away with anything. To Maria, it’s a dazzling privilege.
As a bond develops between these unlikely friends, neither can see what they share most—jealousy and the desire for each other’s lives. But crackling under the surface of their seemingly supportive alliance, the girls begin to commit little betrayals as they strive to get closer to their ideals regardless of the consequences.
Told from the perspectives of Maria, Rocky, and their fathers, They Could Have Named Her Anything explores the heartfelt expectation of what it means to live up to the name you’ve been given and the more rewarding discovery of what really matters.
BIO:
Stephanie Jimenez is a former Fulbright recipient and a graduate of Scripps College in Claremont, CA. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the Guardian; O, The Oprah Magazine; The New York Times; Joyland Magazine; and more.
She completed a novel-writing intensive at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and she attended the 2017 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference for fiction. They Could Have Named Her Anything is her debut novel. She lives in Queens, New York. Visit Stephanie at www.stephaniejimenezwriter.com.
Author webpage: http://www.stephaniejimenezwriter.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/estefsays
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estefsays/
