Empress of the Splendid Season

A Novel

By: Oscar Hijuelos, Elizabeth Strout - introduction

Narrated by: Aida Reluzco

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos brings the joys and heartbreaks of twentieth-century America vividly to life in this "tender" novel (New York Times Book Review).

Lydia España—once a wealthy, spoiled daughter of Cuba—works at a sewing factory in New York. Adjusting to her sharp change of circumstances, missing the days when her prosperous father provided her with every luxury, she ruminates on the incident that drove her away from her homeland in the late 1940s—until she falls in love with Raul, a kindhearted, working-class waiter who sees Lydia as the “Queen of the Congo Line” she used to be: the empress of "the most beautiful and splendid season, which is love.”

Despite their age difference, a loving marriage follows, as well as two children. Lydia revels in her newfound happiness, but when Raul’s health declines, she finds her fortunes reversed yet again. Now working as a cleaning lady, Lydia can’t help but contrast her experiences with those of her clients, whose secret lives and day-to-day realities are so starkly different from her own—but over time, the role may prove to be just what she needs to secure a better life for her children.

​Written with absorbing, magnetic prose, this tenderly rendered novel follows a proud, hardworking woman through the ups and downs of her life. It is Hijuelos at his masterful best, a lasting and expert portrayal of the highs and lows of chasing—and living—the “American Dream.”

Includes a Reading Group Guide.

Critic reviews

"A tender novel . . . This quality comes from the struggle between [Lydia's] instinct for self-invention and her inability to invent a suitable self."—New York Times Book Review

"Nobody writes better about sensual life than Hijuelos, and Empress resounds with sights, tastes, textures and even the humming ambience of deep, well-appointed brownstone apartments . . . [I]t's hard to think of a contemporary novelist who writes better about the people he knows than Hijuelos."—Los Angeles Times

“A richly narrated novel . . . explores with passion . . . the strange workings of life, love, [and] family.”—Elle

“A slow dance, an elegy to a cleaning woman that continues the author’s celebration of his Cuban roots. A character endowed with romantic yearnings, Lydia moves with stoic grace through the decades . . . Emotional fine tuning and pitch-perfect prose.” —Time

"Depicting Spanish Harlem with relentless realism, Hijuelos penetrates the lives behind the humble tenements and massive university buildings. With poignancy, he captures the lonely fear of Lydia's son as he makes his way up the ladder of American success, the apex of which is perhaps not as enviable as he and Lydia assume. Familiar Hijuelos elements—Latin music, introspective men, touches of magic realism in quietly powerful prose—render here a tender and undramatic portrait of a complex woman and her culture."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Well written and engrossing."—Library Journal

"The author shows himself one of our most affectionate chroniclers of the city's less favored neighborhoods as the '60s come and go, then the '70s, and as the Espaa family passes with dignity in tact through time, life, work, sorrow, and love. Sturdy truths and honest humanity in another look at life la Hijuelos."—Kirkus

"Finely detailed, funny, sweet . . . a deliberately simple story graced with the power of the ordinary."—NPR

"Hijuelos is telling a story about small people, but in his skillful hands, they carry big ideas." —USA Today

"In Hijuelos's latest work, the dream is both more soulful and more complex, made up of familial love, friendship, hard work, and, finally, an appreciation of the simple goodness in people . . . Hujuelos manages through Lydia's tale to convey the most elusive of human experiences: reconciliation to one's fate, the satisfaction of love of a good person, and the simple dignity achieved through a life of decency." —Washington Post