7 New (and New-Ish) Books by Latinx Authors to Read for Latinx Heritage Month

In the latest from bestselling author Moreno-Garcia (The Daughter of Doctor Moreau), Montserrat is a talented sound editor in Mexico City in the ‘90s who’s always been overlooked and left out of the boys’ club running the film industry. Her best friend since childhood, Tristán, is a charming if faded soap opera star. When Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, Abel claims he can change Tristán and Montserrat’s lives if they help him complete an unfinished film that he believes in cursed. But soon, Montserrat notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend. As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film, the pair may find that magic isn’t just the stuff of movies.

The secrets that are kept within households and the women they impact most are at the center of these stories from celebrated writer Ana Castillo (So Far from God, Peel My Love like an Onion). In one, ‘Ven,’ a man goes through his accomplished sister’s papers and learns she had a secret life in Mexico. In another, the collection’s titular story, a budding feminist is sent to Mexico by her father to retrieve her mother, who has abandoned the family. Spanning from Chicago to Mexico and New Mexico, the stories in Doña Cleanwell Leaves Home are unforgettable.

Margarita Barresi’s upcoming debut novel (out October 10) explores the effects of colonialism through the lens of a marriage.Isabela, a wealthy woman, sacrifices her artistic aspirations to marry Marco, a penniless man dedicated to improving conditions on the island. As the Puerto Rican government enacts pro-U.S. policies, Marco builds a real estate empire while struggling to maintain his populist principles. Meanwhile, Isabela feels unfulfilled in her traditional role as a wife and mother and becomes disillusioned with Marco's shifting moral compass. As political violence rises, she begins to identify with anti-U.S. factions, leading a dangerous double life that puts her family in peril.

Standup comedian Aida Rodriguez was kidnapped as a child by her mother in the Dominican Republic and brought to the U.S. She was later kidnapped again by her grandmother and uncle, and moved from New York to Florida. As an adult, she ended a difficult marriage and endured homelessness with her children in L.A. Despite all of those setbacks, she never lost her sense of humor. In her debut memoir-in-essays (on sale October 17), Rodrigues charts her many ups and downs, from personal setbacks to career highs and everything in between.

The son of Mexican immigrants, poet José Olivarez was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize for Citizen Illegal. His latest collection, Promises of Gold, is an exploration of every kind of love―self, brotherly, romantic, familial, cultural and more. As Olivarez writes, “How many bad lovers have gotten poems? How many crushes? No disrespect to romantic love―but what about our friends? Those homies who are there all along―cheering for us and reminding us that love is abundant.”

Life isn’t going Sammy Espinoza’s way, especially after her desperate attempt to win back her singer ex-girlfriend lands her in hot water at her job as a music critic. But Sammy has a plan to redeem herself. See, Max, a former rock god, is secretly recording his first-ever solo album, and it just so happens that he and Sammy have history. Exclusive access to the new music, Sammy assumes, would guarantee her professional comeback. But Max lives in Ridley Falls, Washington, where Sammy has history: a family that never wanted her. Going back would mean confronting it all, but, as Mejia’s (We Set the Dark on Fire) adult debut asks, does she really have anything left to lose?

National Book Award-winning author Acevedo’s (The Poet X) first novel for adults tells the story of one Dominican-American family through the voices of its women. Flor can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a party to celebrate the long life she’s led, her sisters are surprised. But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets: her sisters, and the next generation, are hiding things, too. Spanning the three days prior to the party, Family Lore traces the lives of each of the family’s women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City.