Books by Central American Authors

An electrifying memoir from the acclaimed Nicaraguan writer (“A wonderfully free and original talent” —Harold Pinter) and central figure in the Sandinista Revolution.

An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets … From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes “a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror” (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico.

Told in a series of vignettes — sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous — Cisneros’s masterpiece is a classic story of childhood and self-discovery and one of the greatest neighborhood novels of all time. It makes a world through people and their voices, and it does so in language that is poetic and direct. This gorgeous coming-of-age novel is a celebration of the power of telling one’s story and of being proud of where you’re from.

A searing original debut about two sisters and their flight from genocide — which takes them from Hollywood to Paris to San Francisco’s Cannery Row — each haunted along the way by the ghosts of their murdered friends, who are not yet done telling their stories. Endlessly surprising, vividly imaginative, bursting with lush life, The Volcano Daughters charts a new history and mythology of El Salvador, fiercely bringing forth voices that have been calling out for generations.

In Florida, one of the first things you’re taught as a child is that if you’re ever chased by a wild alligator, the only way to save yourself is to run away in zigzags. It’s a lesson on survival that has guided much of Edgar Gomez’s life. Alligator Tears is a darkly comic memoir-in-essays about the scam of the American Dream and doing whatever it takes to survive in the Sunshine State. Gomez’s unforgettable story is a testament to finding love, purpose, and community on your own terms, smiling with all your fake teeth.

Born in Nicaragua, Rubén Darío is known as the consummate leader of the Modernista movement, an aesthetic trend that swept the Americas from Mexico to Argentina at the end of the nineteenth-century. Seeking a language and a style that would distinguish the newly emergent nations from the old imperial power of Spain, Darío’s writing offered a refreshingly new vision of the world — an artistic sensibility at once cosmopolitan and connected to the rhythms of nature.

Nobel Prize-winning Guatemalan author Miguel Ángel Asturias’s masterpiece — the original Latin American dictator novel and pioneering work of magical realism — is a blade-sharp satire of totalitarianism, and a gripping portrait of psychological terror.

Miraflores has never known her father, and until now, she’s never thought that he wanted to know her. But Miraflores discovers that her mother and father had a greater love than she ever thought possible, and that her father had wanted her more than she could have imagined. In secret, Miraflores plots a trip to Panama, in search of the man whose love she hopes can heal her mother — and whose presence she believes can help her find the pieces of her own identity that she thought were irretrievably lost. What she finds is unexpected, exhilarating, and holds the power to change the course of her life completely.

Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico blends poignant romance, bittersweet wit, and delicious recipes.

Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches …

From the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an utterly original memoir-in-essays that is as deeply moving as it is hilarious.