Description
Description
Great American novelist Julia Alvarez, bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, returns with a luminescent novel about storytelling that reads like an instant classic.
"Only an alchemist as wise and sure as Alvarez could swirl the elements of folklore and the flavor of magical realism around her modern prose and make it all sing . . . Lively, joyous . . . often witty, occasionally somber and elegiac." --Luis Alberto Urrea, The New York Times Book Review "Engaging and written in a playful, crystal-clear prose, this novel explores friendship, love, sisterhood, living between cultures, and how people can be haunted by the things they don't finish . . . Entertaining . . . Heartwarming." --Gabino Iglesias, The Boston Globe **Named a Most Anticipated Book by the New York Times, Washington Post, Today.com, Goodreads, B&N Reads, Literary Hub, HipLatina, BookPage, BBC.com, Zibby Mag, and more** Alma Cruz, the celebrated writer at the heart of The Cemetery of Untold Stories, doesn't want to end up like her friend, a novelist who fought so long and hard to finish a book that it threatened her sanity. So when Alma inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic, her homeland, she has the beautiful idea of turning it into a place to bury her untold stories--literally. She creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her.
Alma wants her characters to rest in peace. But they have other ideas and soon begin to defy their author: they talk back to her and talk to one another behind her back, rewriting and revising themselves. Filomena, a local woman hired as the groundskeeper, becomes a sympathetic listener to the secret tales unspooled by Alma's characters. Among them, Bienvenida, dictator Rafael Trujillo's abandoned wife who was erased from the official history, and Manuel Cruz, a doctor who fought in the Dominican underground and escaped to the United States.
About the Author
About the Author
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
--Jaquira Díaz, author of Ordinary Girls "The Cemetery of Untold Stories asks us to consider if our tales will last forever or if they might one day be forever lost. Yet there is nothing to fear or lament in this reality--not when we are soothed by the balm of Alvarez's tender wit and her large-hearted candor. What a blessing to have one of our finest writers assure us that indeed 'we are in this story together."
--Manuel Muñoz, author of The Consequences "Julia Alvarez delivers yet another glorious novel, this time about a very unique kind of love--the love of storytelling. Scheherazade-like, Alvarez keeps us hooked with surprising plot twists and revelations, and characters so captivating that we want to get lost in the corridors of their tales. Simply stated, this book is magical."
--Rigoberto González, director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing, Rutgers University, and author of To the Boy Who Was Night: Poems Selected and New "What a love letter not only to storytelling, but also to the tender, urgent, funny, heartbreaking reasons we tell stories in the first place. This cemetery is a fertile field of rebirth, reawakening, and joy. Every page overflows with delight and wisdom."
--Stacey D'Erasmo, author of The Complicities "A magical new novel focused on storytelling itself."--Literary Hub "The Cemetery of Untold Stories is magical realism at its finest, and just plain magical."--Amazon "Julia Alvarez made history in 1991 with her novel How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent. Thirty three years later and she's still delivering the goods, in this case a beguilingstory set in the Dominican Republic. It's a cross of Lincoln In The Bardo and the very real history of the DR, perfect for fans of Alvarez's magic."--Parade.com "A writer in the Dominican Republic buries her work -- in the dirt, not in drawers -- in this fantastical novel by the beloved author of In the Time of the Butterflies."--Washington Post, 2024 Books Preview "A captivating premise."--BookPage, Most Anticipated Books of 2024 "Mesmerizing... Alvarez's novel poignantly explores themes of storytelling, memory, and the resilience of narratives that refuse to be buried, emphasizing that our stories persist beyond our lifetimes."--HispanicExecutive.com "Read it if: You like your fantasy stories with a literary-fiction twist"--Fangirlish.com "A Dominican author buries her unfinished manuscripts--but her characters are unwilling to go gently into that good night, in Julia Alvarez's inventive latest."--Vanity Fair, 11 Books to Read This Month "The latest by literary legend Julia Alvarez... this imaginative book will make you think about legacies and how they live on."--Real Simple, These Are the Best Books of 2024 (So Far) "The confluence of many different viewpoints, and the fugue-like shifts among perspectives, give the Cemetery of Untold Stories a spellbinding breadth and historical range. Stylistically, Alvarez's writing is intricate and assured."--Seven Days "Alvarez is a masterful writer; there are many things to love in this book."--Portland Book Review "One of the most prominent Latina voices in contemporary literature."--Enlace Latino NC "A graceful book about the stories that haunt us."--Bookmarks "Reads like the work of a seasoned writer coming to terms with her life and work--all its accomplishments and disappointments, hopes and resignations. There's a wistful quality in the telling ... anyone interested in the alchemy of storytelling would do well to look at this book."--U.S. Catholic "It's a story that's both languorous and urgent... [Alvarez] continues her luminous virtuosity with the story of Alma Cruz. There is always something magical to discover in a story, and that is especially true in Alvarez's landing place."--NPR.org "Unforgettable. The central premise here -- a graveyard for unfinished books -- is delicious and sets off a novel full of people remembering and revising their own stories." --USA Today
Publishing Information
Publishing Information

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