“Exceptional, unflinching, cheeky and queer AF.” —Ms.
Winner for the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction
The debut novel from National Book Award for Fiction Finalist Julián Delgado Lopera
Lit by the hormonal neon glow of Miami, this exuberant novel follows a Colombian teenager’s coming-of-age as she plunges headfirst into lust and evangelism.
Uprooted from her comfortable life in Bogotá, Colombia, into an ant-infested Miami townhouse, fifteen-year-old Francisca is miserable and friendless in her strange new city. Her alienation grows when her mother is swept up into an evangelical church, replete with Christian salsa, abstinent young dancers, and baptisms for the dead.
But there, Francisca also meets the magnetic Carmen: opinionated and charismatic, head of the youth group, and the pastor’s daughter. As her mother’s mental health deteriorates and her grandmother descends into alcoholism, Francisca falls more and more intensely in love with Carmen. To get closer to her, Francisca turns to Jesus to be saved, even as their relationship hurtles toward a shattering conclusion.