Las Madres

A novel

By: Esmeralda Santiago

Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago

From the award-winning, best-selling author of When I Was Puerto Rican, a powerful novel of family, race, faith, sex, and disaster that moves between Puerto Rico and the Bronx, revealing the lives and loves of five women and the secret that binds them together

They refer to themselves as “las Madres,” a close-knit group of women who, with their daughters, have created a family based on friendship and blood ties.Their story begins in Puerto Rico in 1975 when fifteen-year-old Luz, the tallest girl in her dance academy and the only Black one in a sea of petite, light-skinned, delicate swans, is seriously injured in a car accident. Tragically, her brilliant, multilingual scientist parents are both killed in the crash. Now orphaned, Luz navigates the pressures of adolescence and copes with the aftershock of a brain injury, when two new friends enter her life, Ada and Shirley. Luz’s days are consumed with aches and pains, and her memory of the accident is wiped clean, but she suffers spells that send her mind to times and places she can’t share with others.

In 2017, in the Bronx, Luz’s adult daughter, Marysol, wishes she better understood her. But how can she when her mother barely remembers her own life? To help, Ada and Shirley’s daughter, Graciela, suggests a vacation in Puerto Rico for the extended group, as an opportunity for Luz to unearth long-buried memories and for Marysol to learn more about her mother’s early life. But despite all their careful planning, two hurricanes, back-to-back, disrupt their homecoming, and a secret is revealed that blows their lives wide open. In a voice that sings with warmth, humor, friendship, and pride, celebrated author Esmeralda Santiago unspools a story of women’s sexuality, shame, disability, and love within a community rocked by disaster.

Talented writer

Such a beautiful and tragic story all in one. I of course wanted more, which shows how good the book was. I also enjoyed learning about Puerto Rico.

Heart breaking and moving read

Luz endures more than anyone, and i believe it is the love she shares with those in her inner circle, her loved ones, that allows her to survive and to keep her beautiful luz shining. Santiago weaves together a story that will stay with you, as she shines the light on the indomitable spirit of the Puerto Rican people despite all they have had to endure. Indeed, Luz may be a metaphor for La Isla, a shining pearl in the Caribbean Sea.

Important piece of work

I was so deeply involved in Luz’s plights and hoped for some resolution. However, that is how collective trauma is…no resolution. As an Boricua emergency consultant, all of clients will receive a copy of this book. An emotional read for PRcans. A must read for everyone else.

The culture and the love

I like everything about this book the characters and the the love amount them all

Accurate information

Thru the novel you can clearly visualize the places and the people that Esmeralda describes. I felt that I was there with them.!!!