Book excerpt: International Latino Book Award Gold Medal Winner! "A beautiful book about family, memories, and the power of stories." —BuzzFeed "Mystical, masterful storytelling." —Ms. Magazine A gorgeously written family saga about a Puerto Rican woman who finds herself gifted (or cursed?) with a strange ability. There was always an old woman dying in the back room of her family's house when Isla was a child... Isla Larsen Sanchez's life begins to unravel when her father passes away. Instead of being comforted at home in New Jersey, her mother starts leaving her in Puerto Rico with her grandmother and great-aunt each summer like a piece of forgotten luggage. When Isla turns eighteen, her grandmother, a great storyteller, dies. It is then that Isla discovers she has a gift passed down through her family's cuentistas. The tales of dead family storytellers are brought back to life, replaying themselves over and over in front of her. At first, Isla is enchanted by this connection to the Sanchez cuentistas. But when Isla has a vision of an old murder mystery, she realizes that if she can't solve it to make the loop end, these seemingly harmless stories could cost Isla her life. BuzzFeed's 20 Highly Anticipated Thrillers of 2022 BookRiot's 15 Best New Mystery Books of 2022 Goodreads' Books to Read for Hispanic Heritage Month Apartment Therapy's One Book to Read in October 2022 Paste Magazine's Best New Fantasy Books of October 2022 BuzzFeed's Best New Books of October 2022 BookRiot's Best New Mysteries, Thrillers, and True Crime of October 2022 CrimeReads' Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2022 The Nerd Daily's Most Anticipated Book Releases SheReads' Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books Coming In 2022 Hasty Book List's Best Books of October