Woman of Light

by Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Melinna Bobadilla (Narrator)

A dazzling epic of betrayal, love, and fate that spans five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West, from the author of the National Book Award Finalist Sabrina & Corina

"There is one every generation--a seer who keeps the stories."

Luz "Little Light" Lopez, a tea leaf reader and laundress, is left to fend for herself after her older brother, Diego, a snake charmer and factory worker, is run out of town by a violent white mob. As Luz navigates 1930's Denver on her own, she begins to have visions that transport her to her Indigenous homeland in the nearby Lost Territory. Luz recollects her ancestors' origins, how her family flourished and how they were threatened. She bears witness to the sinister forces that have devastated her people and their homelands for generations. In the end, it is up to Luz to save her family stories from disappearing into oblivion.

Written in Kali Fajardo-Anstine's singular voice, the wildly entertaining and complex lives of the Lopez family fill the pages of this multigenerational western saga. Woman of Light is a transfixing novel about survival, family secrets, and love, filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, all of whom are just as special, memorable, and complicated as our beloved heroine, Luz.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Magical Realism, Indigenous, Book Club, Westerns

11 pages, Audiobook

First published June 7, 2022

About the author

Kali Fajardo-Anstine is the nationally bestselling author of the novel Woman of Light (Random House, 2022), winner of the Reading the West Award in Fiction, the Women Writing the West Willa Award in Historical Fiction, and nominated for the Colorado Book Award, the Carol Shields Prize, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.

Fajardo-Anstine’s first book is the widely acclaimed short story collection Sabrina & Corina (Random House, 2019), a finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN/Bingham Prize, the Story Prize, the Saroyan International Prize, and winner of a American Book Award and a Reading the West Award in Fiction.

In 2023, Fajardo-Anstine’s introduction to Willa Cather’s beloved classic Death Comes for the Archbishop was published by Penguin Classics.

Fajardo-Anstine’s honors include awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Denver Mayor’s office. She is the 2022 - 2024 Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University. Fajardo-Anstine has received fellowships from Yaddo (2017, 2021), MacDowell (2018, 2021), Hedgebrook, and Tin House. Her writing has appeared in the The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, O the Oprah Magazine, The American Scholar, Boston Review, and elsewhere. Translated into numerous languages, her work has been published in Japanese, Italian, German, Slovenian, Spanish, and Turkish.

Born in Denver, Colorado, she is the second eldest of seven siblings. Fajardo-Anstine dropped out of high school weeks into her senior year, earning her GED and going on to graduate with a BA in English and Minor in Chicana/o Studies from Metropolitan State University of Denver. She holds an MFA from the University of Wyoming and worked for over a decade as an independent bookseller at West Side Books in North Denver.

Reviews

[Roxane · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is so much to love about this saga told across three generations of a Mexican American family. Luz, the young woman at the center of this novel, is trying to figure out who she is and what she wants in a deeply segregated Denver. The characters are the strongest part. Luz and her best friend Lizette and her brother Diego, her aunt Maria Josie, are all compelling and I would have read an entire novel about any of them. The way the novel shifts is, at times, unsatisfying in that I really wanted more of Liz’s grandparents’ story. I wanted some of Liz’s story to be more fully developed too. Her love life was a mess in that both of the men were too narrowly drawn so it was hard to believe either of them as a potential anything. Regardless, this novel is wholly engrossing. Loved it.

[Will Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The radio smelled of dust and minerals, and in some ways reminded Luz of reading tea leaves. They were similar, weren’t they? She saw images and felt feelings delivered to her through dreams and pictures. Maybe those images rode invisible waves, too? Maybe Luz was born with her own receiver. She laughed, considering how valuable such a thing must be, a radio built into the mind.

--------------------------------------

Maria Josie insisted Diego and Luz must learn the map, as she called it, and she showed them around first on foot and later by streetcar. She wore good walking shoes, and dressed herself and the children in many layers. It tends to heat up, she had said,
another moment, it might hail. The siblings learned to be cautious. It was dangerous to stroll through mostly Anglo neighborhoods, their streetcar routes equally unsafe. There were Klan picnics, car races, cross burnings on the edge of the foothills, flames like tongues licking the canyon walls, hatred reaching into the stars.

There is a lot going on in this novel, so buckle up. Focused on the experiences of 17/18 year-old Luz Lopez--the Woman of Light of the story--in Depression-era Denver, the story alternates between her contemporary travails and the lives of her ancestors. The beginning is very Moses-like, a swaddling Pidre being left by his mother on the banks of an arroyo in The Lost Territory in 1868. We follow Pidre and his children and grandchildren into the 1930s. All have special qualities. Among them, Luz, his granddaughter, reads tea leaves, seeing visions of both past and future. Diego, his grandson, would definitely belong to House Slytherin in a different universe. He tames and performs with rattlesnakes.


Kali Fajardo-Anstine in the Western History & Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library - image from 5280 - photo by Caleb Santiago Alvarado

This is a story about stories, how telling them carries on identity, while ignoring them can help erase the culture of a people. Pidre is noted as a talented story-teller, urged, as he is given away, to remember your line. KFA remembers hers, giving a voice to Chicano-Indigenous history.

My ancestors were incredibly hard working, generous, kind, and brilliant Coloradans. But they were also poor and brown and this meant our stories were only elevated within our communities. When I began writing seriously in my early twenties, I was reading books by James Baldwin, Sandra Cisneros, Edward P. Jones, and Katherine Anne Porter, and many, many others. I saw how these authors shined the spotlight on their people and I also wanted to write work that was incredibly sophisticated that honored my cultural group, making us more visible in the mainstream. - from the Pen America interview

Fajardo-Anstine brings a lot of her family’s history into this novel. Her great-aunt’s name is Lucy Lucero. In addition to the name of our protagonist, a second connection can be found in the name of the stream where Pidre is found, Lucero. An uncle was a snake charmer. An aunt worked in a Denver glass factory, as Luz’s aunt works in a mirror factory in the book. Her family had hidden from KKK, as characters do here. Her Belgian coal-miner father abandoned his family, as Luz and Diego’s father does here.

There is a feel to the book of family stories being told around a table, or in a living room, by elders, passing on what they know to those most recently arrived. Remember these tales, the speaker might say, and in doing so remember where you came from, so you can better know who your people are and ultimately who you are.

As they hopped and skipped in and out of the archway lights, Luz imagined she was jumping between times. She saw herself as a little girl in the Lost Territory with her mother and father walking through snow fields, carrying fresh laundry to the company cabin. Then she saw herself in Hornet Moon with Maria Josie, beside the window to her new city, those few photographs of her parents scattered about the floor, the only remnants of them she had left. She saw herself eating Cream of Wheat for breakfast with Diego in the white-walled kitchen. They were listening to the radio, the summertime heat blowing in from the windows, the mountains far away behind the screen.

The racism that Luz and others confront is not subtle. A public park features a sign

NOTICE
This Park Belongs to WHITE PROTESTANTS
NO GOOKS
SPICS
NIGGERS
Allowed

Luz is denied an opportunity to apply for a job because she is not white. A KKK march has a very pogrom-like, 1921-Tulsa-like feel.

Luz gets a chance to see the range of crimes going on in the city, when she gets a particular job. Sees how the system that is supposed to protect regular folks does anything but. The murder of a Hispanic activist by the police is not just a historical image, but a resonant reminder of police killing of civilians in today’s world, usually with little accountability. The more things change…

There is a magical element in this novel, that, when combined with the multi-generational structure, and richness of language, and, of course, her focus on particular groups of people, makes one think of Louise Erdrich. As to the first, among others, Luz receives visions while reading tea leaves, and at other times as well. An ancestor speaks with the dead. A saintly personage associated with mortality appears in the flesh. People appear who may or may not be physically present.

The ancestry begins with Pidre in 1868, but in his infancy we meet elders who reach back much further.

The generation I knew in real life was born around 1912 and 1918. They would talk about the generation before—their parents, but also their grandparents. That meant I had firsthand knowledge spanning almost two hundred years. When I sat down to think about the novel and the world I was creating, I realized how far back in time I was able to touch just based on the oral tradition. My ancestors went from living a rural lifestyle—moving from town to town in mining camps, and before that living on pueblos and in villages—to being in the city, all within one generation. I found it fascinating that my great-grandma could have grown up with a dirt floor, not going to school, not being literate, and have a son graduate with his master’s degree from Colorado State University. To me, time was like space travel, and so when I decided on the confines of the novel, I knew it had to be the 1860s to 1930s. - from the Catapult interview

Luz is an appealing lead, smart, ambitious, mostly honorable, while beset by the slings and arrows of ethnic discrimination. Like Austen women, she is faced with a world in which, because of her class and ethnicity, making her own way in the world would be very tough without a husband. And, of course, the whole husband thing comes with its own baggage. Of course, the heart wants what it wants and she faces some challenges in how to handle what the world offers her. She does not always make the best choices, a flaw likely to endear her to readers even more than an antiseptic perfection might.

The supporting cast is dazzling, particularly for a book of very modest length (336p hardcover). From a kick-ass 19th century woman sharpshooter, to a civil rights lawyer with conflicting ambitions, from a gay mother-figure charged with raising children not her own to a successful Greek businessman, from Luz’s bff cuz to the men the two teens are drawn to, from an ancient seer to a corrupt politician, from…to…from…to… Fajardo-Astine gives us memorable characters, with color, texture, motivations, edges you can grab onto, elements to remember. It is an impressive group.

And the writing is beautiful. This is the opening:

The night Fertudez Marisol Ortiz rode on horseback to the northern pueblo Pardona, a secluded and modest village, the sky was so filled with stars it seemed they hummed. Thinking this good luck, Fertudez didn’t cry as she left her newborn on the banks of an arroyo, turkey down wrapped around his body, a bear claw fastened to his chest.
“Remember your line,” she whispered, before she mounted her horse and galloped away.
In Pardona, Land of Early Sky, the elder Desiderya Lopez dreamt of stories in her sleep. The fireplace glowed in her clay home as she whistled snores through dirt walls, her breath dissipating into frozen night. She would have slept soundly until daybreak, but the old woman was pulled awake by the sounds of plodding hooves and chirping crickets, the crackling of burnt cedar, an interruption between dawn and day.

Really, after reading that, ya just have to keep on. One of the great strengths of this novel is its powerful use of imagery. There are many references to light, as one would expect. Water figures large, from Pidre’s introduction in the prologue, left by a stream, to our introduction to Luz and her aunt Maria Josie sitting together in Denver, near the banks where the creek and the river met, the city’s liquid center…, to a rescue from a flash flood, to an unborn buried near a river, and more. A bear-claw links generations. This makes for a very rich reading experience.

I felt that the narrative fizzled toward the end, as if, having accomplished the goal of presenting a family and group history, filling a vacuum, there was less need to tidy everything up, a quibble, given that the novel accomplishes its larger aims.

Kaji Fajardo-Astine’s 2019 short-story collection, Sabrina & Corina, made the finals for National Book Award consideration. You do not need to read tea leaves or have visions to see what lies ahead. Woman of Light, a first novel, illuminates that future quite clearly. By focusing a beacon on an under-told tale, Kaji Fajardo-Astine, is certain to have a brilliant career as one of our best novelists.

Celia, Estevan’s sister. Luz listened and watched as she read her own words in her own voice. First in Spanish and then in English. The crowd moved with each syllable, cries of anguish. A lamp unto my feet, a woman yelled behind Luz. A light unto my path.

Review posted – June 17, 2022

Publication dates
----------Hardcover – June 7, 2022
----------Trade paperback- April 18, 2023

I received a digital ARE of Woman of Light from One World in return for a fair review. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.




This review has been cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal, Instagram, and Twitter pages

Interviews
-----Red – June, 2022 - Q&A: Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s “Woman of Light” with Cory Phare
-----Pen America – 2019 - THE POWER OF STORYTELLING: A PEN TEN INTERVIEW WITH KALI FAJARDO-ANSTINE with Lily Philpott – not specific to this novel, but interesting
-----Catapult – June, 2022 - Kali Fajardo-Anstine Believes Memory Is an Act of Resistance with Jared Jackson

Items of Interest
-----Following the Manito Trail
-----5280 - Inside Denver Author Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s Much Anticipated Debut Novel by Shane Monahan

[Taylor Reid]

An intimate story following five generations of one Indigenous Chicano family in the American West. Through Luz’s visions we’re transported through past decades, unearthing the faded and hidden stories of her family’s past. Kali Fajardo-Anstine gives us a nuanced perspective on how the past can inform the future. I loved this one.

[Michael Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Source of Light

“Woman of Light” starts off like a dream, an ancient fable. It is nighttime in the American Southwest, the Lost Territory in 1868, and “...the sky was so filled with stars it seemed they hummed.” A baby, Pidre, is abandoned in a Moses-like passage and is rescued and raised by Desiderya Lopez, the Sleepy Prophet of the tiny pueblo, Pardona. These are the opening pages of a magical journey through generations of an Indigenous Chicano family.

We shift back and forth in time, but the novel’s core revolves around events sixty years later.
Luz “Little Light” Lopez is Pidre’s descendent, a young tea leaf reader and clairvoyant in Denver in 1933. She and her cousin Lizette work taking in laundry to make ends meet, although they are looking for more substantial income. Luz lives with their aunt Maria Josie, a remarkably strong woman who never hesitates to confront head-on the harsh realities life deals to her family.

There is an openly hostile atmosphere of prejudice and discrimination the family has to suffer with. Luz is blatantly refused the opportunity to even apply for one job in a white community. Her brother, Diego, makes the mistake of falling in love with the wrong white girl and is beaten badly. After Maria Josie decides she must evict him he flees town altogether.

Most of the men in this book are ineffectual and weak, others just brutal. Luz exhibits questionable taste in men, partially because her goal is to find a man who will protect her from other men. Pidre shows promise as a character in the beginning of the book, but is soon overshadowed by his wife, the sharpshooter Simodecea Salazar-Smith. Bold women are the backbone of this family’s story, from the Sleepy Prophet Desiderya to Simodecea to Maria Josie. Luz should be a stronger character– she is descended from such remarkable women and pales in comparison. She is a tea leaf reader, she has visions, and yet her inconsistent resolve ensures she remains overshadowed by her legacy.

Life out west in this era was tough and finding accounts are hard if centering on anyone but a white man. Locating the story emanating from a female’s point of view, and that of a Native American or Latinx family– that is where Kali-Fajardo Anstine has given us a gift.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #WomanOfLight #NetGalley

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up
This multi-generational story is beautifully written and fleshed out the West in the early 20th Century. Fajardo-Anstine is definitely a wordsmith and I could easily see the scenes in the story.
Told in a non-linear fashion, it covers five generations of a Chicano family from the Lost Territories from the late 1800s to the 1930s. The women in several generations have the gift of sight. The story focuses primarily on Luz, who lives in Denver with her aunt and initially, her brother. There are elements of magic realism within the plot - Luz’s reading of the tea leaves, Diageo’s kinship with his rattlesnakes. But there are also dark elements to the story - the Klan operating in Denver, but also the everyday racism of the time. It fulfilled my desire to learn something of the time and place. But I struggled at times to connect to the rationale behind the actions of Luz.
The pace of the book was also very slow and at the end, I was left with a feeling of wanting more.
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Because of how much I unexpectedly adored Sabrina & Corina, I had high hopes for Woman of Light. The book's striking cover only added to my anticipation. Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that Fajardo-Anstine bit off way more than she could chew. While a "dazzling epic [...] that spans five generations" sounds sweepingly impressive, it only means something if executed efficiently. With Woman of Light I would have settled for two or even just one generation, had it honed the focus and resulted in a more solid text. Not only did the novel suffer from commonplace first novel pitfalls, but it often felt more like a draft than a final product with its inconsistencies and wayward storylines.

Starting with the title itself, Fajardo-Anstine employs one that's latent with the promise of acquainting the reader with the so-called exceptional individual it references. The fact that said person's name literally translates to "light" (as Luz's does) came off as uninspired and lazy. What's more, by the end of the 304 page text I was not in the least convinced of the unparalleled aura that a number of characters (even strangers) attest to when referring to Luz ("The old man turned and lifted his waxy and fat palm, placing it on Luz's forehead. A coolness moved into her. "Your elders are in the little one." The old man chuckled and nudged Diego with his thin arm. "Take care of her." (83). This even goes for loved ones affectionately referring to her as "Little Light" throughout.

As a reader, Luz's gift instead feels stagnant (though Luz herself does not seem to care or to share in this sentiment), since it never evolves much beyond reading tea leaves. Even when Fajardo-Anstine attempts to imbue Luz's ability with a new facet ("Her visions were changing, growing into something larger, something greater than pictures in the leaves." (192), this falls flat since throughout the novel Luz does very little to nurture or even explore the origins of the gift she is said to have inherited from her female bloodline (this includes Maria Josie, whom she actively lives with and who is largely responsible for raising her!). Instead of being the primary focus of the novel as the title implies, Luz's gift is a mere afterthought next to the insipid elements in her day-to-day life (like David) on which she disproportionately fixates. We're constantly told as readers how "special" she is, but we actually see very little evidence of this in the text. In many ways, Fajardo-Anstine often does far too much telling and not enough showing. It is relentlessly emphasized that Luz is destined for something greater that never actually materializes. Instead, she reads as nothing more than a petulant (277), impulsive (280-1) teenager, which would be fine if the book's very description did not declare that "[i]n the end it is up to Luz to save her family stories from disappearing into oblivion."

In sharp contrast with her dexterity in Sabrina & Corina, a large portion of Fajardo-Anstine's language in Woman of Light was clunky, at times grammatically incorrect, and at others, just downright confusing:

"Avel patted Luz's hand, and that side of her body tingled like with pins." (118)

"She turned to Luz, looking at her with up and down eyes." (119)

"Luz and the sisters placed their diagrams down, a dinner party of paper." (133)

"Thank you, David," Luz said, feeling her head bow out of reaction." (137)

"Luz was used to moving words into words." (139)

"When he removed his hand, he pushed the whole fat worm of his tongue into her mouth." (222)
*particularly bizarre since as unpleasant as the description appears at first glance, it is meant to depict a moment of welcomed physical contact

"There were far more men in the concrete dance hall than neither Sara nor Marie Josie were used to being around at once." (259)

"The grass was textured blue" (274)


In addition, some of the chapter titles were confusing and/or came across as altogether random—the content of the chapters themselves offering no insight as to the origin of their naming. "The Body Snatchers of Bakersfield, California" is one such example, the chapter itself having nothing to do with Bakersfield or dead bodies as far as I could tell. In a similar vein, "Three Sisters" pointlessly introduced 3 characters that were never heard from, seen, or even mentioned again.

Though consistent in spotlighting particular characters, Woman of Light's sprawling story still felt fractured. It never quite flowed or came together as a cohesive whole, as if it had far too many components for Fajardo-Anstine to simultaneously keep up with and execute successfully. As a result, many characters felt one-dimensional even by the end of the lengthy book. As far as main characters, David was to me by far the most reprehensible. He unwaveringly came off as a sleazy creep, constantly trying to cop a feel and get into Luz's pants (176, 222-3, 278-80), even at such inopportune moments as him and Luz hiding under a desk during a KKK rally (222-3)! His dismissiveness of Luz's alleged gift (239) and suddenly skipping town after almost succeeding in taking (albeit consensually) her virginity at her own cousin/best friend's wedding (278-80) was beyond unsavory, and far from endeared him to me even while Fajardo-Anstine attempted to paint him as an up-and-coming, principled social justice lawyer. The revelation that he's also 10 years Luz's senior and has actively watched her grow up/been part of her formative years (285-6), only further solidified him as predatory.

Something I couldn't find a definitive answer to with regard to character affiliation, though: were Lizette and her family actual blood relatives of Luz's (especially since they aren't listed in the family tree at the beginning of the novel)? Or were they proverbial family Maria Josie adopted somewhere along the way upon arriving in Denver, before Luz and Diego arrived?
Diego as a character also felt underdeveloped, and his connection with Eleanore Anne (another underdeveloped character) was flimsy and unconvincing. Right down to him all of a sudden (with no explanation) being aware of the existence of his daughter with no mention of what became of the supposed love of his life, Eleanore Anne. In fact, this is unfortunately a chronic problem between the novel's characters, even the ones we're told are "close" (Luz and Diego, respectively, to Maria Josie; Luz to Lizette; Diego to Luz): relationships that seem cursory, from lack of adequate development.

The characters that most resonated were Pidre, Simodecea, young Sara, and young Maria Josie. In fact, their story (collectively and individually, both before and in the aftermath of Pidre's murder) was by far the most engaging of the entire novel. I would have much rather read a better developed story that solely focused on them, than what felt like the disposable stories of Luz, Diego, Lizette, et al. The fact that we didn't even get to the true meat of Pidre, Simodecea, young Sara, and young Maria Josie's collective story until Part 4 (pretty much the novel's conclusion) was an utter shame, especially since the descriptions included in those chapters were actually where Fajardo-Anstine showed her true writing prowess. The depictions (particularly of the landscape, but also of character sentiment) in what I would term the the "Simodecea chapters" ("The Sharpshooter Simodecea Salazar-Smith," "Simodecea's Final Shot") were vividly breathtaking and enthralling. "Simodecea's Final Shot" was my absolute favorite chapter of the entire novel: beautiful in its poignant renderings of loss and generational rupture. There's even so much more that could have been explored regarding Pidre's own origin story and the theater he created. To me, those focal points alone could constitute an entire novel all on their own.

While I applaud Fajardo-Anstine for offering insight into what Denver was in the 1930s as both the antithesis of and precursor to its contemporary whitewashed reality, many of the mentioned historical events and circumstances often seemed glossed over and merely like backdrop features (as previously mentioned, David fondling Luz under a desk during a KKK rally (222-3)). Fajardo-Anstine does consistently reference the segregation (23, 96, 98-99), overt racism (128-9, 150), and KKK influence (129, 219-20) taking hold at that time, though incidents often felt mentioned in passing instead of being more thoroughly delved into and grappled with. In particular, it would have been interesting to unpack what those prevailing attitudes and mindsets would mean for the future of Luz's family, as true natives of the land and region. I also found the fact that Maria Josie being so brazen in exhibiting her sexual identity and not encountering any opposition or acts of violence whatsoever, to be especially unrealistic and romanticized given her status as a non-white, "immigrant" (though actually a contradiction, given that she is descended from the earliest inhabitants of the land) female during that era. Like so many elements of the novel, I wish this were more substantially relayed.

The book's ending, with Luz and Diego retrieving Diego's daughter from the convent (not even getting into the absurd fact that Lizette flippantly hid this information from Luz earlier in the novel!: "Please, she mouthed to Lizette, don't tell. And with only the look on her face, Lizette promised she never would. She had no reason to. Besides, she needed to get back to work." (217), and Luz declaring "We'll call her Lucille" (304) struck me as so generic that I literally rolled my eyes upon reading the line. Fajardo-Anstine really opted to name 3 of her principal characters, Luz, Lizette, and Lucille?? It was an unsatisfying yet fitting ending to the text, given the trajectory of the novel up to that point.

What Woman of Light conveyed was that Fajardo-Anstine (at least at this point in her writing career), does much better wielding more concise plotlines. Woman of Light in and of itself could easily have been divided into distinct, more condensed novels that surely would have allowed her to showcase the true depths of her artistry as a writer. Instead, her first novel felt haphazardly constructed—a true disservice to her and the few actual noteworthy characters she created for this story. I hope that in any future novel she produces, she's able to reel in her storylines with regard to scope, so as to render stronger works as thoroughly beautiful as her earlier work.


Noteworthy lines and passages:

"The scent was overwhelming, fats and yeasts, the citrus of flowers." (32)

"As the booze worked through Luz's veins, she felt cradled by the room." (33)

"In the center of the cliffs, some fifty feet high, a massive alcove gaped in the stone wall like an open, toothless mouth. A cedar tree grew in the center, dressed in sunlight, a blazing luminous cloak. In the span of several minutes the colors of the alcove shifted from scarlet to violet with a burned section of cedar the only indication of neutral color." (67)

"He watched as more stars appeared, a dazzling quilt of sky." (67)

"And though he couldn't fully grasp the eventual consequences of that day, [...] Pidre felt some unknowable stone dropped into the pool of his destiny." (72)

"Pidre came from storytelling people, but as he passed a big top devoted to the reenactment of Custer's Last Stand, he couldn't help but think that Anglos were perhaps the most dangerous storytellers of all—for they believed only their words, and they allowed their stories to trample the truths of nearly every other man on Earth." (73)

"She found it odd how people sometimes said they had lost a person, as if death was some kind of misplacement of the soul, like an absent sock or an errant hairpin." (121)

"...there was something about the way the writing made her feel, as if the letters themselves were weeping." (139)

"String lights crisscrossed the room, as if God had wrangled the stars inside." (141)

"The revolving brass doors fanned Luz and David until they landed in an impressive marble hallway flush with morning." (152)

"Diego had been gone a little over six months, and Luz and Maria Josie felt his absence like a fire that had slowly burned down, the embers still red and flickering, but the heat mostly gone." (160)

"Her hair had slipped away from its braid like a frayed rope." (163)

"On their way home from town, Pidre would stop a little ways from the theater's ridge. He'd place his strong hands under each girl's arms, removing them one at a time from the cart and setting them face out on the mesa, the earth below like a windswept moon, a moon whose soil had created them." (203)

"...the sky was turning from an orange blush to mellow evening, those colors of lilacs and dust." (207)

"The sun was setting and the land had grown colder, mosquitoes and crickets whispering to one another, as if to raise the hairs on the earth's neck." (208)

"The land was sleeping in muted green and blue tones, no firelight, no sting of smoke." (208)

"...[she] watched as her cousin stepped into her gown as if dropped into a pail of cream." (268)

"The sun set behind the mountains, spilling golden rays across the yard's white streamers, as if the world was streaked in paint." (275)

[Melissa Crytzer Fry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was swept away by the prologue of this book – the evocative setting, the beautiful language, the late 1800s time period, the mystery behind the characters.

But we stay there only a short time and spend the remainder of the book in 1930s Denver with a different cast of characters (albeit endearing and interesting), but with only a slight connection to those introduced in the opening pages.

Despite my desire to remain in the latter time period, I learned a great deal about the horrific inequities faced by Chicano/a and indigenous people in Denver during the 1930s (I was unaware of the KKKs deep presence, as well). But I confess… I wanted so much more of that first story! And much more of Simodecea’s story. And so, so much more to the ending.

I appreciated the clairvoyant aspects of the book, loved the bad-assery of Maria Josie, and one character’s connection to snakes. I’m sure many will adore this novel and the easy flow of the writing, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of just wanting more.

An enthusiastic "5" for the prologue, and a solid 3 "like" for the remainder.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[CM · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautiful multigenerational book that will be loved by historical fiction readers. It is very character based and the characters are written perfectly. There was a lot of struggle and loss but there was also just so much heart and love. I genuinely felt connected so strongly to the main character and just had to know how things worked out for her. It focuses mainly on the struggles of growing up as a girl of both Indigenous and Mexican descent in the early to mid 1900s. It really showed how the connection of family and community can help get through and bring hope in even the hardest of times.

I absolutely recommend this to the historical fiction lovers out there.

I was provided with a copy if this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Lupita Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time I read a book by Kali Fajardo-Anstine way in advance. I mean it’s basically - drop what you are reading to read her book as soon as you get it - type of vibes. This second time around, it again did not disappoint. I am only disappointed that I don’t get to experience it for the first time when everyone else does (yeah that was a galley brag, my bad lol). Fajardo-Anstine is quickly showing us that she’s a contemporary writer interested in writing us Latinx folks into the lands we have always known. This novel that centers an Indigenous Chicano family has the mood of a classic legendary Latinx story and a punch that says she can square up with any contemporary writer. Quite literally - Fajardo-Anstine can do both, she can do it all.

[Theresa Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing in this historical novel set in Denver is beautiful. Luz is a tea reader and seamstress. Her story illustrates the challenges of being Hispanic or black in 1934, with the added weight of being female and paid less for the same work while being sexually harassed.

The story is told in a disjointed manner, sometimes jumping back in various times in history of Luz’s ancestors. Sometimes this worked, other times it was frustrating because it interrupted the flow of the storyline, so I’d get into the plot and then get taken right out of it. For that reason, I didn’t love this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel.

[Kendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was surprised to read the author's bio at the end of this book, full of awards and accolades, because the book is just kind of meh. The characters lack depth and interiority and are often stereotypes (Diego the lover, sleeping with every woman he meets; David the shady Jewish lawyer; Mickey the Irish drunk). The protagonist, Luz, is like a damp rag--she's passive and easily maneuvered by others, has no strong opinions, no interests, only her talent for reading tea leaves and then lying to people about them. The book is also riddled with typos, mostly of homophones (due for do, fair for fare) and a lot of creative or nonstandard usage whose meaning is not always clear: a "skimp dog" sticks with me.

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a perfect book to read for National Hispanic History Month. This beautiful debut novel, Woman of Light, by Kali Fajardo-Anstine was such an engaging book, as we moved through the history of five generations of the Lopez family as they settled in Colorado from Pardona Pueblo to the Lost Territory to Denver, Colorado. During this historic time from 1868 through 1934, Denver and Colorado was part of monumental changes as we witnessed from Prohibition to the crash of the stock market in 1929 and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Denver. The history of Denver has always been one of my passions but this book certainy adds a new layer.

I loved this book and I loved the Lopez family as it adapted to changing times in Coloraodo and acclimated learning a new language. But a shining star in this sprawling Lopez family was Luz, as there is always one who carries forth the story.

"A whole new city, a map in her mind. Luz could speak two languages, and sometimes without knowing how or why, she dreamed and understood another language, too, something older. When she first learned to read tea leaves, Luz's mother told her that there was one in every generation, a seer who keeps the stories. She had learned that, too, and still was."

I found myself just immersed in this book as it gave the history not only of the Hispanic population in Colorado but of this amazing family over the generations as they struggled to assimilate in spite of all odds. This an author to watch. I have previously read her anthology of short stories Sabrina and Corina, And fabulous it was with so many powerful stories about the immigrant experience.

[Emily Coffee and Commentary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A magical family saga of storytelling, love, and survival. Over five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family, Woman of Light explores the harrowing history of the American West, discussing betrayal, racism, and violence. However, it also showcases the rich culture of stories, the ability to make a name for oneself, to defend it, to build a family and pass on lessons, origins, secrets. With nuanced and complex characters, this is a novel that is incredibly real in its balance of joy and sorrow, resentment and desire, tenderness and fierceness. A compelling blend of past and present, memory and the impact of choices we make, Woman of Light is a reflection of the ways the world changes us, and they ways in which we change the world, the bonds we form, with our ancestors, our loved ones, even our enemies, and how those bonds shape the generations to come, the words recorded, interpreted. A spirited and compelling novel.

[Andrea Gagne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was absolutely loving this book until I started to realize it was creeping closer and closer to the end, and it didn't feel like there was enough time to answer the questions I still had!

For most of the novel, though, I was completely enthralled. Kali Fajardo-Anstine has some of the most immersive writing I've read in a while, with exquisite descriptions that paint such a vivid picture in your mind. Not just visually - her writing ties in all the senses beautifully, and you can smell and taste the settings.

The flashbacks to the Lost Territory with the Sleepy Prophet, Pidre who was found Moses-like by the river, and Simodecea the sharp-shooter all felt like an Indigenous Chicano fairy tale, which I loved. And I genuinely cared for the characters, who meant well despite some of their flaws. Luz, the main narrator, feels adrift after so many lost loved ones in her life, and uses her gift of sight to try and figure out where she and her family come from and who they are. Her cousin Lisette has more to her than anyone (except Luz) gives her credit for. And Luz's aunt Maria Josie is a force to be reckoned with. The challenges they navigated in 1930s Denver plagued with racism and xenophobia were fascinating to learn more about, and I like that there were intersections highlighted between race and class and gender.

I was ready to give this a 4.5, but that has to be adjusted to account for the unsatisfied feeling I was left with at the end. Maybe I missed something, but I was left with some pretty big unanswered questions. I'm going to put a couple of the most nagging ones below the break, so that I am not giving any spoilers away.

Most of the book felt like a 4.5, the end left me feeling like a 3.5, so I'll average that out to a 4.

-Scroll down for my unanswered questions, which contain spoilers!-
























Ok, here are the things I was unclear about:

1. Are Luz and Lisette biological cousins?  Luz calls Lisette her cousin repeatedly, and she refers to Lisette's mother Teresita as her Tia (aunt). But then the flashback plot makes it plainly clear that Luz's mother Sara and Maria Josie were the only two daughters their parents had. And then both of their parents died, so no additional kids coming. Did I miss something?

2. When Maria Josie sends Diego away she basically told Luz that she had her reasons but wasn't going to explain them. And then that never really got revisited? They invite Diego back at the end... but did anything for Diego's situation change that would make it safer? The men who attacked him never came back into the plot so they should still be just as much of a threat as always. Even if it was because of the baby, that wouldn't really make sense because when Diego got back the whole family went and picked up the baby, so clearly they're ok with that. Again, maybe I missed something?

Maybe all this is explained and I just missed it, in which case take my feelings of dissatisfaction with a grain of salt. I scrolled through some of the other reviews and nobody else seemed to be confused, so maybe I am just dense!

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany)]

I should say up front, I am not really a historical fiction reader and I was hoping this would be heavier on magical realism (think The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina) rather than the tiny bit of reading tea leaves or seeing ghosts that are not a huge part of the story.

This is pitched as multi-generational, which is technically true, but the majority of the book takes place in 1930's Colorado, following Luz, a young woman coming of age. There is a love triangle where neither option is a good option IMO and a physical relationship with her employer that has problematic power dynamics, treated too romantically for my taste. I liked the gay aunt and would have liked to see more of her story- that probably would have been more interesting to me. Luz is such a passive character that I found her frustrating to read.

The actual writing is fine, but based on reviews I was hoping for something much more lyrical and elevated. (Again, think Orquidea Divina) Clearly I'm not really the target audience for this, but it was a bit of a disappointment. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was okay if a bit...twee maybe? I'm not sure that's the right word but I think a different vocal choice with greater depth could have been better. Thank you to Libro.FM for providing me with an audio copy, all opinions are my own.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an epic novel about five generations of a Latino/Indigenous family and the sacrifices and hardships they faced in the early days of Colorado territory through the 1930’s in Denver. The story and its characters are vividly brought to life as seen through the eyes of twenty year old Luz who attempts to understand her place in the segregated society in Denver.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: What happens when a determined woman meets a wall of silence? When we're very lucky, and she's very lucky, a writer comes on the scene and becomes An Author. That's the trajectory of Author Fajardo-Anstine. Sabrina & Corina, her literary debut, was a collection of stories and...it went nowhere. It wasn't a flop. It was invisible.

Bemoaning her fate being beneath the bearer of such stories to the world, she got up and made a book tour for herself...got the grassroots interested in the book...and got nominated for a National Book Award. For a debut collection of stories! Grassroots support is crucial, but let's be honest: You gotta have the chops to get anywhere after that.

And here we are, talking about Author Fajardo-Anstine's debut novel, a real gift of a tale about people whose American history goes much deeper than the majority of those reading this blog's history goes. It's not a linear, "in 1868 this unusual thing happened, in 1879 the next unusual thing happened..." narrative strategy. Luz, our literal Woman of Light, is also our PoV character. Everything that happens to her is grounded, contextualized, in her family's...her people's...history. It's a scary thing to think of taking on this much underknown history, and Author Fajardo-Anstine is up to the task. You, the reader, won't get it spoon-fed to you. I won't make it sound like work, or an assignment, but it is not effortless storytime fiction.

That said, the stories are wonderfully deeply told, limned against a background not unfamiliar today. It's not like the USA is racism-free. It's not like it was in earlier times, in that it's still regarded as a more fringe belief than it was in, for example, Luz's 1933 Denver. But the KKK is recrudescing under new names, the old hate gets poured into new bottles and different labels get slapped on them. Make no mistake, it is still less pervasive than the world Luz, her cousin Lizette, her brother the hapless Diego, and company all face every time they open the door.

It's Diego, and David, and frankly all the men in the book, that brought an inevitable fifth star off the rating. I wanted to feel immersed in a time and a place, and was; but the caddish men, not a decent soul among them, made me think "oh, twenty-first century feminism goggles are on, so I (sadly a Y-chromosome bearing person) am in for a drubbing." There are white people who will feel left out, too, but that comes with the story and is, frankly, the point...white folks don't need to be centered, or even there on the periphery, if the author telling the story of a time and place doesn't want them to be. Men, though? She's got those. And does she unload on them. Spineless and useless; abusive and cruel; just flat evil (as anyone who joins the KKK in fact was).

I don't think it was necessary, and it smacks of score-settling. So there went star #5.

Still think it's time to rev up your book club's drinks tray, y'all, and get this terrific, well-told, challenging, and deeply satisfyingly immersive read on the coffee table.

[Val (pagespoursandpups) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an engaging read about history I knew nothing about. Told in alternating timelines and voices, this story follows 5 generations of an Indigenous Mexican family in Denver, Colorado.

Spanning the years of the 1860s to the 1930s, the story feels mainly about Luz "Little Light" Lopez and her journey to find her history and her future. She and her brother lost their parents when they were young, and were then raised by their Aunt. Each of the three work hard to provide for each other, but still swim in poverty. They are considered underclass citizens and are observed as less than. Luz's story intersperses with a "seer" woman in the 1860's called, the sleepy prophet, and a woman, Simodecea, in the 1900s who is a celebrated sharp-shooter. Luz's best friend from childhood is Lizette and I just loved her. She is full of energy, personality and self-confidence. But what I liked best about this story was uncovering how the strings of all these women's lives intertwined.

This vividly descriptive story walks the reader through racism, poverty, family, loyalty, strength, self-discovery and small bits of magical realism. I felt transported to the old West and could feel the heat and the oppression. Luz is able to read tea leaves, and as the story progresses, her ability to "see" also expands. She knows very little about her ethnic history and her ancestors. The story reveals pieces of her history little by little through other characters. This family has faced so many hardships and set backs, but continued to move forward with faith in a better future.

This is definitely a slow-burn novel, but one that will captivate and engage the reader throughout. I really enjoyed hearing from a perspective that was completely unknown to me. I also appreciated the story focusing on a part of the US that feels less explored. There were so many aspects to this book - history, family, destiny, relationships and purpose. I definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/One World for the arc to read and review. Pub date: 6.07.22

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this one quite puzzling to review. It was an easy read and it was engaging enough. But it had a dreamlike quality and I think it was supposed to. Meaning that the whole book felt a little bit like the visions of the young female main character. Complete episodic points in time. I kept feeling like I wanted to know more about certain stories, certainly the visions, and it felt like it kept wandering in different directions. Interesting ones, but I felt I was left with more questions, more gaps. I really wanted to know more and feel more about the string that tied things together. But I kept feeling like my "missings" and spaces were a reflection of the characters as well. No one felt particularly connected to the stories of the past, not even necessarily to one another. But what it lacked in grounding, (to me) was some quite good writing and experience and storylines I could engage with. I kept wondering how the others in the buddy read were finding it, going to find it. Did it grab? Did they feel like there were spaces between the chapters and our understandings? Did that feel deliberate to them? Did they enjoy it? Feel like the ending was an ending? Or were they more like me, a little bit left off with, "Well, I was definitely in it, but what was that?" I am excited to read everyone's reviews. I rather think that will enrich it for me.

[Melissa (PAGEFIFTYFIVE and Bookishfolk) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ughhhhhh this was SO SO good! The characters, the plot, the family dynamics, the landscape-it's all brilliantly done. Kali Fajardo-Anstine is a writer to be reckoned with and this book exemplifies that for sure! I loved every minute of this book and would recommend it to anyone that will listen.

[fatma]

DNF at 70 pages/25%

I really did not get on with this book. The prologue was brilliant: moving, evocative, intriguing. It pulled me right in to the story, and almost made me cry--it was that good. But then once we got on to the actual book it all just fell apart. By far my biggest issue here is the writing. It does not read smoothly at all; it had a very fragmented stop-and-start quality to it that made me aware of every single second that I spent reading this book. (After I DNFd this I started reading a book whose writing I actually got along with and the difference was like night and day.) Add onto this a narrative that felt very dry and lifeless and I just couldn't take it anymore.

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the book jacket: A dazzling epic of betrayal, love, and fate that spans five generations of an indigenous Chicano family in the American West. Luz “Little Light” Lopez, a tea leaf reader and laundress, is left to fend for herself after her older brother, Diego, a snake charmer and factory worker, is run out of town by a violent white mob. As Luz navigates 1930s Denver, she begins to have visions that transport her to her Indigenous homeland I the nearby Lost Territory.

My reactions
Too, too much going on here. The constant back and forth across generations and locations was exhausting and at times confusing. I would get invested in Pidre’s story (for example), only to jump forward several generations to learn about Diego and Luz, then I’d be back learning about Maria Josie, then farther back to Desiderya’s travails, then forward again the Luz.

In many respects it reminded me of an oral history, the kinds of family lore passed down from generation to generation on warm summer nights sitting in the dark on a porch, the way my grandparents, aunts and uncles used to regale us kids with stories of our ancestors.

There were times when her writing really spoke to me and some of her images (especially when in the Lost Territory) reminded me of the landscape of my youth on the Texas/Mexico border.

[Tomes And Textiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of magic. The way it made me gasp and cry. Woman of Light weaved it's story deeply into my heart. Get it in your radar!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine is a wonderful historical fiction that takes the reader into the heart of the history of the American West.

This is just such a fabulous book on so many levels. It is a multi-generational story set in the backdrop of the western lands of the US. We can see the ancestors recent and old and their respective stories told through (and around) the main character, Luz “Little Light” Lopez and her family through an array of avenues and snippets. We can see through each time period the triumphs, struggles, losses, changes, and cultural significances within each respective generation. This mainly takes place roughly between 1890 and 1935. It is just fascinating.

This is a story about family, love, loss, keeping one’s personal and family stories and history alive and not forgotten. We see through her eyes the hardships, the treatment of the native and indigenous groups and cultures as settlers and other immigrants move outward. It is beautiful, haunting, harrowing, depressing, and sad all at the same time. Yet there are threads of hope that through Luz her family’s existence will not be forgotten and will continue to live on.

So unique and definitely memorable.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and One World/Random House Publishing Group for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 6/7/22.

[Bianca Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woman of Light is a multi-generational story set in the American West during the late 1800s spanning to the 1930s. The story line flowed effortlessly, which is a huge plus for me as a reader. Kali finds an ingenious way to intertwine the family's history through Luz and her current experiences.
The vivid descriptions of the landscapes will transport you right alongside what life would have been during this time period. I loved every minute of this unique story and will be recommending this book to any die heart historical fiction fans!

Thank you to NetGalley and One World/Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[♥Milica♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audiobook was great, though I actually wish I'd read this myself or at least had the ebook or physical to follow along with, because I think I would've been able to focus better. The timeline was a bit jumpy and there were quite a bit of characters to follow, so that's why I don't think audio only was the best option.

I was also hoping it would really be multigenerational, but the majority of the story is told through only one generation (the grandkids), while the others get a few chapters here and there. I think the older generations were more interesting too, but that's not to say I didn't like Luz's story.

The historical facts were probably the best part of the book, and from what I'm reading, the author's personal family story was at least partially the inspo for this, so it makes sense that those parts came off as the beast written / most emotional.

Overall I'd still recommend this, because it was interesting, it's a 3.5ish on the rating scale.

[Kara Paes · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the stars. Luz is one of my favorite characters I've ever read about. I loved how well I got to know her and see her relationships with people develop over time. Diego, Maria Josie and Lizette were incredible side characters that I really enjoyed learning about as well.

The shifting timelines were incredibly interesting and I loved getting to know their family throughout their history and generations. It really helped me understand them as a family and why certain sad or difficult things had to happen they way they did.

Overall, I'm so happy I read this book and am sad I won't get to experience it for the first time again. 5 stars and all my love to Kali Fajardo-Anstine who's backlist I will be running to pick up.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story about family and love and how the choices we make affect our life. I liked Luz, our MC, and learning about her struggles and life and survival. There is a second timeline we get glimpses in to about Pidre and his world as well. I liked how the two storylines finally wove together and we could finally figure out why we had both. Interesting story that I found entertaining, but didn't love it.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most disappointing novels I've ever read, since I loved Ms. Fajardo-Anstine's justly lauded collection of short stories, "Sabrina & Corrina." The author seems to still think she's writing short stories, as she strings a series of evocations and low-stakes encounters into an uninteresting coming-of-age story about a mixed Mexican-Indian girl in Depression-era Denver. Luz's evolution from Little Light to the titular Woman Of Light needn't be violent or dramatic, if we're being honest most of our transitions to adulthood aren't the stuff of thrillers, but it deserves a more vibrant setting and more vivid characters. The Denver and New Mexico in "Woman of Light" are drab, and populated with dullards who keep talking about more interesting places and people that we never see or meet. For example, Luz goes to work for a lawyer who represents the family of a police-shooting victim. Wow, that sounds gripping, can you tell me about their pain and loss and the history of racism and casual brutality that led to such a miscarriage of justice? No, better we should spend 30 or so chapters tagging along after Luz as she tries to decide between two suitors: her boring boss, and an even more boring radiator repairman who moonlights as a trumpet player. Boy, the world sure needs more plots like that. In fairness to Ms. Fajardo-Anstine, she devotes a few chapters to the far more intense and disturbing narrative of Luz's grandparents, a Native circus impresario and a Mexican sharpshooter, but their story is rushed and quickly resolved, as if betrayal and revenge were just a prelude to a mundane teen romance. And really, a lot of this could be forgiven if the writing weren't so damn weak. In a book where so little happens, sentences like "she spoke quietly with her hands behind her back" (did they answer?) or "he dealt cards with small, nimble fingers" (creepy) or "she lay with her face to the ceiling" (wow, didn't know she could levitate) jab like moccasins in your shoe.

But for all that, "Woman of Light" has its charms, mostly in Ms. Fajardo-Anstine's genuine (if befuddling) affection for her characters. Thus it's not a complete waste, just about 75%.

[Kiki Brosnan (Bookworm_KikiB) · Rating 4 out of 5]

You will like this book if: you enjoy open endings, diverse stories, and strong (though messy) family ties

Plot: Luz, affectionately known as “Little Light”, lives in Denver with her aunt, brother, and cousin. As she navigates life, her tea leaf reading abilities morph into something more powerful, revealing bits and pieces of her family’s rich history in the Lost Territory. At the end I saw the plot, but it wasn’t very clear while I was reading.

Characters: Luz, a tea leaf reader and daughter, and granddaughter to powerful Chicana women, lives in Denver where she explores concepts of love, purpose, and family. Her cousin, Lizette, is such a fun side character. I am still not sure how I feel about David’s character. Or really any of the male characters, they all have some sort of grimy edge to them.

Setting: Set in Denver in the 1930s, there are realistic portrayals of beautiful nature as well as ugly racism. Such a refreshing perspective to read a minority story set during the great depression.

Conflict/Resolution: There were many conflicts that converged during one key event. Things (and people) are not what you think they are. The resolution was heartwarming, but maybe not in the way you might expect.

Writing: Incredibly rich, descriptive text. This took me a long while to read because every word felt like it mattered, but it was incredibly fulfilling to read even just one chapter at a time. I absolutely LOVED the beginning of the story and how it set the tone for the novel.

Overall/Other notes: I attended an event where this author was a speaker and I absolutely love her personality. If you are tired of reading about white characters in white spaces doing white people things, read this book. I used to live in Colorado and learned so many amazing things about the land I lived on, and felt incredible shame for how racist Denver was (though I could have guessed with how white of a city it still is). I received an ARC from Penguin Random House via NetGalley.