From bestselling, National Book Award-winning author Elizabeth Acevedo
comes her first novel for adults, the story of one Dominican-American
family told through the voices of its women as they await a gathering
that will forever change their lives.
Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So
when she decides she wants a living wake--a party to bring her family
and community together to celebrate the long life she's led--her sisters
are surprised. Has Flor forseen her own death, or someone else's? Does
she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde,
Pastora, and Camila.
But Flor isn't the only person with secrets. Matilde has tried for
decades to cover the extent of her husband's infidelity, but she must
now confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora is typically the
most reserved sister, but Flor's wake motivates this driven woman to
solve her sibling's problems. Camila is the youngest sibling, and often
the forgotten one, but she's decided she no longer wants to be taken for
granted.
And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own:
Yadi is reuniting with her first love, who was imprisoned when they were
both still kids; Ona is married for years and attempting to conceive.
Ona must decide whether it's worth it to keep trying--to have a child,
and the anthropology research that's begun to feel lackluster.
Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the
lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present,
Santo Domingo and New York City. Told with Elizabeth Acevedo's
inimitable and incandescent voice, this is an indelible portrait of
sisters and cousins, aunts and nieces--one family's journey through
their history, helping them better navigate all that is to come.
