“The Winds of Maracaibo is a searing portrait of Venezuela’s migrant crisis and the ferocity of a mother’s love. Through her dazzling English-language debut, María Elena Morán provides a type of antidote for the broad generalizations that breed indifference. A powerful story of survival, displacement, and the relentless search for home.” —Kali Fajardo-Anstine, bestselling author of Woman of Light
“For a novel whose central theme is abandonment—a country neglecting its citizens, migrants leaving their home, absentee parents, even a ghost who refuses to haunt their loved one—I was delighted to find so much love in every page of The Winds of Maracaibo. María Elena Morán’s characters come alive in all their complexities. I fell in love with them, their terrible decisions, their acts of bravery, the depths of their humanity, warts and all. This extraordinary novel is not a breeze, it’s not even a storm. It’s a hurricane heralding a brave new voice in Latin American letters.” —Alejandro Puyana, author of Freedom Is a Feast
“The Winds of Maracaibo is a novel that upends preconceived notions about the crisis in Venezuela, northbound migration, and limbos both bureaucratic and spiritual. Moving yet unsentimental, unsparing yet hopeful.” —Darrow Farr, author of The Bombshell
“With its rich and unrestrained prose, which gives no pause, which is like a river or a marathon, Morán brings chaos to life. A novel to feel the tragedy of Venezuela and its migrants in one’s own flesh. A new voice worth reading.” —Pilar Quintana, author of Abyss (National Book Award finalist)
“A taut, poignant snapshot of migration. . . . Though writing out of Venezuela is rare for American audiences, Morán’s perspective on migration will resonate with readers familiar with themes of separation, asylum, bigotry, and resettling. What distinguishes the novel is Morán’s ability to write in a variety of tones (ably captured by translator Jones) and her evocation of the desperation that fills migrants from different generations and class levels in different ways, and how skills and money are of little use, even when they’re trying ‘to start over in a city where Venezuelans weren’t yet regarded as a pest.’” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“While trying to survive abroad, Nina is forced to return to her own history. When the secrets of the past push her to search for something that no longer exists—family, love, the revolution—she discovers that her only possible country lies in the things she cares for most. With brilliant writing that strikingly blends different voices and registers, María Elena Morán turns tragedy into an adventure; she takes us on an extraordinary journey of fiction and language that manages to evoke, from the outside, the intimacy of a country.” —Alberto Barrera Tyszka, author of Hugo Chávez
“This is a great book. If you want to know what really happened to the Venezuelan people through the Chávez revolution, this is the book to read. María Elena Morán is a gifted writer, a master storyteller.” —César Miguel Rondón, Venezuelan journalist and writer
“A novel of enormous literary scope on Venezuelan immigration.” —Diego Gándara, La Razón
“The Winds of Maracaibo drags you, shakes you, excites you, exhausts you, and moves you. Like living another life, more difficult than yours, more intense. Like crying for what will never be.” —La Sexta
