Family Lore

(Paperback, Export/Airside - Export/Airside/Ireland)

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'Elizabeth Acevedo has made the transition into the adult world look easy. The true gift of a stunningly talented writer' - JACQUELINE WOODSON, author of Red at the Bone
'Exceptionally written. Acevedo expertly maneuvers through the complex and singular stories of each of these women and all that unites them. It was a joy to experience each character's expressive and gripping story; to acknowledge their truths and to recognise some of the women in the lives of women around me. An overall remarkable accomplishment' - ABI DARE, author of The Girl with the Louding Voice


'Flor is throwing herself a wake and reminding us that "even a long life is too short". So while we are here "let's eat, and dance, and be alive". Acevedo has written unforgettable characters who breathe new life into how we grieve, age, take care of each other. Family Lore is a big hearted novel, a wonderful debut!' - ANGIE CRUZ, author of Dominicana


'Family Lore is a sweeping multi-generational story of a family of women whose special powers have helped them overcome personal, familial and historical challenges that both bond them together and at times threaten to pull them apart but ultimately navigate them into the full abrazos of love. Acevedo is in full command of her special powers as a storyteller of compassionate, capacious and lyrical imagination. Make room on your shelves, readers, for this strong new voice with an old soul and a deep well of understanding of who we wonderfully are for the brief time we are beings' - JULIA ALVAREZ, author of Afterlife


'Family Lore is a deeply Dominican book, full of raw emotional power. It is at once intimate and epic, one of the most resonant representations of a family and world like my own that I've ever read. There is so much to love about this wise, funny and original novel' - NAIMA COSTER, author of What's Mine and Yours


Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. When she decides she wants a living wake - a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she's led - her sisters are surprised. Has Flor forseen her own death Or someone else's Does she have other motives But Flor isn't the only person with secrets. Matilde has tried for decades to cover the extent of her husband's infidelity, but she now must confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora is typically the most reserved sister, but Flor's wake motivates this driven woman to attempt to solve her sibling's problems. Camila is the youngest sibling, often the forgotten one, but she's decided she no longer wants to be taken for granted. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own: Yadi, reuniting with her first love, who was imprisoned when they were both still kids; and Ona, married for years and attempting to conceive. Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Told with Elizabeth Acevedo's inimitable and incandescent voice, this is an indelible portrait of sisters and cousins, aunts and nieces - one family's journey through their history helping them better navigate all that is to come.

Reviews

Acevedo is a master of time. Family Lore is full of beautiful prose, even-handed magic and all the pains and triumphs of intergenerational bonds. Tender, moving and altogether lovely. Not one word is wasted here -- KILEY REID, author of SUCH A FUN AGE
There is potent magic in these pages, passed down through this lineage of powerful sisters who have captured my heart. How does Acevedo do it Reading Family Lore is like an embrace, and I am filled with nostalgia for a family I have never had and could never have imagined -- RUTH OZEKI, author of THE BOOK OF FORM AND EMPTINESS
Acevedo expertly maneuvers through the complex and singular stories of each of these women and all that unites them. It was a joy to experience each character's expressive and gripping story; to acknowledge their truths and to recognise some of the women in the lives of women around me. A remarkable accomplishment -- ABI DAR, author of THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE
Flor is throwing herself a wake and reminding us that "even a long life is too short". So while we are here "let's eat, and dance, and be alive". Acevedo has written unforgettable characters who breathe new life into how we grieve, age, take care of each other. Family Lore is a big hearted novel, a wonderful debut! -- ANGIE CRUZ, author of DOMINICANA
Elizabeth Acevedo has made the transition into the adult world look easy. The true gift of a stunningly talented writer -- JACQUELINE WOODSON, author of RED AT THE BONE
Family Lore is a sweeping multi-generational story of a family of women whose special powers have helped them overcome personal, familial and historical challenges that both bond them together and at times threaten to pull them apart but ultimately navigate them into the full abrazos of love. Acevedo is in full command of her special powers as a storyteller of compassionate, capacious and lyrical imagination. Make room on your shelves, readers, for this strong new voice with an old soul and a deep well of understanding of who we wonderfully are for the brief time we are beings -- JULIA ALVAREZ, author of AFTERLIFE
Family Lore is a deeply Dominican book, full of raw emotional power. It is at once intimate and epic, one of the most resonant representations of a family and world like my own that I've ever read. There is so much to love about this wise, funny and original novel -- NAIMA COSTER, author of WHAT'S MINE AND YOURS
Only Elizabeth Acevedo could make an epic feel so intimate, so perfectly crafted and tightly drawn. Family Lore is a devastating exploration of the liveliness of the Marte women. No writer on earth transforms a page into a home with distinct emotional chambers like Acevedo, and here she does it with language that is equally lush and lacerating. This is how stories should be made -- KIESE LAYMON, author of LONG DIVISION AND HEAVY
Praise for The Poet X: The force and intensity behind her words practically pushes them off the page . . . This is a book from the heart, and for the heart * * New York Times Book Review * *
I fell in love . . . This one will stay with you a long time -- ANGIE THOMAS, author of THE HATE U GIVE

Author Bio

Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican-American National Poetry Slam Champion and New York Times-bestselling author. She is the author of the young adult novels The Poet X, With the Fire on High and Clap When You Land. The Poet X is a New York Times bestseller, winner of the National Book Award and the Carnegie Medal, and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. She was selected by The Poetry Foundation as the Young Poet's Poet Laureate of 2022.

@acevedowrites | acevedowrites.com