Latino Literary Authors
Updated 7/08
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
This novel tells the story of the Trueba family, following them from the turn of the century through times of love, revolution and family upheaval.
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
It's a long way from Santo Domingo to the Bronx, but if anyone can go the distance, it's the Garcia girls. Four lively Latinas plunge from a pampered life of privilege on an island compound into the big-city chaos of New York, where they embrace all that America has to offer.
In the Name of Salome by Julia Alvarez
Julia Alvarez tells the story of a woman whose poetry inspired one Caribbean revolution, and of her daughter, whose dedication to teaching strengthened another.
Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima enters his life. Ultima changes his life and guides him in her role as a curandera, one who heals with herbs and magic.
So Far From God by Ana Castillo
From the American Book Award-winning author of "The Mixquiahuala Letters" comes the story of a remarkable woman and her four daughters living in New Mexico – a novel shaped by influences as diverse as Mexican mythology, Catholicism and today's headlines.
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
"Tell me a story, even if it's a lie." So it begins as the Reyes family piles into three cars to make a trip to the "other side" (Mexico City) to visit the Awful Grandmother and the Little Grandfather. Celaya (Lala) Reyes is the youthful observer of her family's adventure!
Let it Rain Coffee by Angie Cruz
Leaving her home in the Dominican Republic to pursue an American lifestyle, Esperanza struggles with the realities of everyday hardships in a cramped apartment where she lives with her husband, children and critical father-in-law.
The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Living with an old-world mother and rebellious sister, an urban New Jersey misfit dreams of becoming the next J.R.R. Tolkien and believes that a long-standing family curse is thwarting his efforts to find love and happiness.
Waiting For Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire
At the start of the 1960s, an operation called Pedro Pan flew more than 14,000 Cuban children out of the country, without their parents, and deposited them in Miami. Eire, now a professor of history and religion at Yale, was one of them. His deeply moving memoir describes his life before Castro, among the aristocracy of old Cuba.
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Set in turn-of-the-century Mexico, Tita, the youngest of three daughters, is expected to spend her life waiting on Mama Elena and not marry. Her torment increases when her beloved marries one of her sisters. Thrown together, they only manage to communicate their affection through the dishes she prepares for him. Eventually, Tita's culinary wizardry unleashes uncontrollable forces, with unexpected results.
The Aguero Sisters by Cristina Garcia
Explores the complexities of Cuban American family life in the story of two middle-aged Cuban sisters – one living in Havana, one in New York City – who have been estranged for more than 30 years.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The story of Florentino Ariza's prolonged passion for Fermina Daza, a passion that is finally consummated after 50 years when they are both over 70 years old.
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
Cesar and Nestor Castillo – two very different Cuban brothers – recall their heyday in 1950s New York, when they led an orchestra, were known as "the Mambo Kings" and appeared on the "I Love Lucy" show.
Call Me Henri by Lorraine Lopez
Faced with family problems, difficulty in school and gangs in the barrio, Enrique dreams of some day reaching the "other America" depicted on television, while sympathetic teachers help him cope by supporting his fight to study French instead of ESL.
Music of the Mill by Luis J. Rodriguez
Thirty-year-old Azucena Salcido attends her father's deathbed while remembering how their family was entangled in the politics, racial polarization and corrupt power struggles that marked late 20th-century California.
The Hummingbirds Daughter by Luis Urrea
More than 20 years in the making, this narrative is based on the first 19 years in the life of the author's Mexican great aunt, Teresa Urrea, or Saint Teresa of Cabora (1873??? 1906). The illegitimate daughter of a poor Indian woman and a wealthy landowner, Teresa is raised on a farm and taught the healing arts by a curandera (female healer) until a near-death experience endows her with the divine gift of healing.