No review I write could do this story justice, but on we go.

Readers, mark your calendars for the release of Gina María Balibrera's debut novel, The Volcano Daughters, on August 20, 2024.

I’ll give you a second. Do you have your pen out yet? Your calendar open? (For those digital calendar users, you get the gist). Welcome back.

Ok, now how to write a review for one of your new favorite works of fiction… First, I’ll start by saying that The Volcano Daughters blew me away in the beginning. While reading the prologue, I immediately recognized this book as one that would stay with me long past reading the final page.

“And so now: All is silent and waiting. All is silent and calm. Listen to us. It begins.”

I read The Volcano Daughters slowly, savoring each page, each line, mostly because I did not want the book to end. Beautiful and vibrant, The Volcano Daughters is at once devastating and pee-your-pants hilarious (Lourdes, María, Cora, and Lucía, I’m looking at you).

Oh, and Balibrera's narrative style is my newest obsession. There are many voices, and they are woven together powerfully, but even more brilliant is the way in which Balibrera differentiates each, especially the sisters Graciela and Consuelo.

Now that your calendars are marked, why not go ahead and pre-order The Volcano Daughters? You will not regret it, and you may even find yourself a new favorite book, or like me, a new favorite author.

Thank you to Pantheon and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of The Volcano Daughters (August 20, 2024). And thank you to Gina María Balibrera for this incredible, incredible book.

“We’re still here. Listen.”

The Volcano Daughters sets itself up as a story of two sisters. When really it’s a the story of those who might have been forgotten but are still here telling us their stories.

This book caught me off balance at first with four extremely chatty ghosts. But once I settled into the ghosts retelling of their story, I was immersed. Their narrative and side conversations were a balm to their heartbreaking histories and Graciela and Consuelo’s continuing heartbreaks. And made their victories all the more exciting to celebrate.

This is a story that weaves itself into you. And I think it will live with me for a long time.

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy for review.

Compulsively readable and beautifully written, The Volcano Daughters genuinely left me wondering, “at what point does writing about our histories turn into exoticism?” For while Gina María Balibrera writes beautifully, and often poignantly while inserting Spanish into her writing in a way that doesn’t read as Spanglish, though this may be a difference in Spanglish’s. Irregardless of that, Balibrera still seems like she’s trying to make the world of the 1800s El Salvador as foreign and mystical as possible, particularly lingering on the lush jungles, and constantly talking Indica with a chorus of dead Indigenous women as the backup chorus to their childhood friend who’s now assisting a dictator, and her sister. It’s clear Balibrera loves magical realism in the breadth of the 100 Years of Solitude, and Jorge Luis Borges, but those were written by people who were living in the middle of the colonial era, in these colonized Latin American countries. Balibrera is not.

Thus at the end of it all I’m just left wondering, how much do we show ourselves and our traditions and the “mystical magical unknown” of our families off for an audience, before it becomes exoticism? I don’t know, but The Volcano Daughters feels as if it’s maybe crossed that line.

I’ll confess I stopped reading this about half way through. For all its detail, emphasis on female voices, commitment and focus, I found it a comparatively pale version of the kinds of south and Central American fiction that have educated us powerfully on the political horrors that have happened there. The books fault or mine? I’m unsure. The author works hard to deliver on expectations and yet I felt little engagement, little sense of freshness, certainly very little in the way of enlightenment. Disappointing.

I had a hard time getting into this book - I think the writing style was hard to get me hooked. But I really enjoyed reading and learning a little more about this tragic time period in Central America.

A saucy, searingly original debut about two sisters raised in the shadow of El Salvador’s brutal dictator, El Gran Pendejo, and their flight from genocide, which takes them from Hollywood to Paris to cannery row, each followed by a chorus of furies, the ghosts of their murdered friends, who aren’t yet done telling their stories.

This is the story about two sisters and their struggle to survive and escape a genocide happening in their homeland. This was a slow burn book for sure, but did have plenty of interesting plot points to keep me invested. This was historical fiction with a twist of magic thrown in for good measure. I may not have been the target demographic for this book which I understood going in. Despite that I did find enough to like here, if not love:)

“That’s the problem with a myth or story. It’s what we’re always trying to warn La Yinita about. If you don’t tell it properly, if you say it too quietly, you erase everyone’s face as you go.”

*The Volcano Daughters* is a decades-spanning story following two sisters and their escape from a brutal dictatorship in early 20th century El Salvador. Consuelo and Graciela are estranged and re-united across time, continents, and different groups of power wanting to use them as means to an end.

This novel is cleverly narrated by a chorus of ghosts of the girls’ four childhood friends killed in the massacre of indigenous people following ‘El Gran Pendejo’s’ coup d'état. Lourdes, María, Cora, and Lucía interject throughout with jokes, context, and judgements, rooting the story in their personalities and histories. I really enjoyed this structure, as well as their breaking of the fourth wall to address the author, imploring her to tell the story properly.

This story melds magical realism with themes of identity, family, survival, and community. Consuelo and Graciela were real and imperfect heroines, and their approaches towards the mounting challenges they faced were well contrasted.

I really enjoyed Balibrera’s writing style, with lush and lived-in settings and evocative descriptions of the tragedies covered in this story. *The Volcano Daughters* is my favorite kind of historical fiction, allowing readers to inhabit characters in a space and time of lesser-known history. This book was ambitious in its breadth, covering colorism and prejudice against indigenous communities, class and land ownership, mysticism and paranoia, and mother and sisterhood.

Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of *The Vanishing Half, Silver Nitrate,* and *The Nightingale*, and I am definitely interested in checking out more by this author in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon for the early review copy.

(2.5 stars)

I loved the concept and the plot and the characters. the world was immersive but the writing was off for me and it didn't click sadly.

This was such an immersive novel. I loved that it was told from the perspective of fantasmas--it added such a different and beautiful edge to the storyline. This novel follows the story of two sisters' lives from El Salvador, to Hollywood, San Fransisco, and Paris. The first half of the story takes place in El Salvador, leading up to La Matanza--the massacre of thousands of innocent indigenous peoples. This is a much-needed recounting of such historical tragedies that fell by the wayside for so many decades.
Compared to the second half of the novel, which follows the sisters' separate flights from their home country, the first half is a bit slow. It was still a pleasure to read, however, and know these women before their lives changed irrevocably. Balibrera's writing style is so beautiful and blunt, poetic and passionate. I will be on the lookout for more of her work.
Thank you to Pantheon and NetGalley for providing an arc.

The Volcano Daughters is the heartrending, compelling story of two sisters, born in Izalco, and their separate journeys after they escape genocide in El Salvador, each believing the other died in the massacre. Though their paths diverge, Consuelo and Graciela both experience prejudice and hardships as they try to find their place in the world. The sisters are watched over by their murdered friends (Lourdes, María, Cora, and Lucía), with each of these women interjecting their candid commentary into the narrative.

The beautiful prose and heavy topics demanded that I take my time with this book, and I lingered on many a passage while reading. I loved the way Spanish words and phrases were incorporated into the prose, and the references to myths like la sihuanaba.

This story triggered so many emotions in me; I found myself fighting back tears as Consuelo was stolen from her mother, and again and again as the women are subjected to infuriating, horrifying injustices. Knowing that this novel draws on historical events such as La Matanza (the masacre) makes the sisters' stories even more tragic. Still, there is light in this story; their friends watching over them, kind strangers, found family. This story profoundly affected me, and I know that I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

Note: This work includes content that may be upsetting, including but not limited to violence, murder, genocide, sexual assault, rape, kidnapping, grief, miscarriage, racism, self harm, and suicide.

Unique, powerful historical fiction about El Salvador’s brutal history, indigenous women, survival, memories, and sisterhood. The story centers on two sisters who escaped a massacre and the paths their lives took, but as told by the ghosts of their young friends who didn’t make it. At times it was a slow read, but only because the language shifts occasionally to a Spanish word or phrase and I wanted to translate it all. Overall, a very memorable book. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Michigan(!) author for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was such an investing story! I loved the character development, and the storyline that blended family themes with mythology and folklore was so beautiful. The author's writing style was absolutely beautiful!

Wow, this was quite the journey! The Volcano Daughters was like being swept away to this mystical world where family ties and ancient myths collide.

This was my first time with Gina Maria Balibrera's writing, and it was so vivid. The imagery of the volcanic landscapes dynamics between the sisters (and their secrets) drew me in. There were moments where the pacing was slower, but the story's depth and imagery totally make up for it.

I’d maybe have a list of trigger warnings at the end, even if they’re spoilers, just have a link to it or a page number. I’m a mom myself and it was triggering when both her daughters were taken from Socorrito; let alone with her being drugged and sent back home. Also the domestic violence in relation to Patrick. I did find Cora, Lourdes, María, and Lucía’s interludes to be a bit jarring and interrupt the flow at first, but it grew on me over time. I loved the banter. Really good job writing Perlita, I absolutely loathe her. Balibrera did an excellent job showing how Perlita assuages her guilt from her own perspective. The imagery is absolutely stunning, I feel like I’m transported into each scene. The dialogue too is artful and well rounded, I feel like I can tell who is who without even looking. Also, the satire? The sarcasm? Top tier, in a heartbreaking way. Also, the General wanting her teeth and calling them pearls??? Uhh super weird lol but adds to the fact that he’s not mentally stable. “Can one measure the worth of a soul?” This book with the strong maternal and sister bonds, reminds me a bit of Jane the Virgin. Heartbreaking and heart wrenchingly written, the rose glasses ripped off way of storytelling doesn’t hold back.

My favorite quote: “More of what? Graciela wondered. Whatever more was, she didn’t want it. All she wanted was her mother and her home, and to be with us, and she did not understand why she’d been ripped out of her life by the roots, transplanted in this place that seemed barely to want her.”

Just a few grammar issues: (I had this sent to my Kindle, I apologize if the “Loc” is a bit odd - that’s all it gives me instead of a page number!)
In the prologue, Loc 28 - The “A” in “all is still” should be capitalized.
Loc 169 - María should be capitalized.
I’m kind of noticing that at the start of every chapter, the words that should be capitalized in the first sentence aren’t? Maybe this is a formatting issue and the printed book will be different but I just wanted to mention it.

I was hooked from the very first sentence of this book. It hooked me in the story of sisterhood, family and learning about a different culture. I cried at certain parts as I have two older sisters this book now has a place in my heart, that makes it a little more special. I will definately recommend this book when it comes out.

I didn’t enjoy this style of writing I was not easy to read for me. I was really excited about the plot bc as an immigrant u can relate but I didn’t enjoy it

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this upcoming release!

I have seen this book floating around on social media, mostly Instagram. And it was mostly other authors singing its praise and bringing awareness to it. Before even looking into the story itself, I was instantly impressed by the way the cover art seemed to evoke something in me. There is so much beauty and so much pain. And plenty of Easter eggs for the story beyond the art.

The plot itself seems to flow with a steady pace which is something I appreciate since I struggle at times with historical elements in my fiction. I enjoyed this. I felt for our characters and I was engaged with this from start to finish. This could also be expanded and I would be happy to read more from the universe.

Well done!

An absolutely beautiful story that follows two sisters as they experience the tumultuous political environment of 1920's El Salvador and later the racial tension of the United States. Graciela and Consuelo are compelling characters, very different as sisters but both drawing the reader's sympathy and support as they move through live, both separate and together at various points throughout the story. The history of El Salvador's persecution of indigenous peoples and and its subsequent political effects is not something that I had any background knowledge of and seeing it through Graciela and Consuelo's perspectives was compelling and tragic. After fleeing their home country the sisters embark on different paths, both thinking that the other had not survived La Matanza, the Massacre. In the United States (and for Consuelo, France), they continue to experience prejudice as a result of their indigenous features, facing discrimination, limited job opportunities, and stereotyping. Despite this, the sisters grow and change as they follow the path their lives have taken them, leading to a touching ending where the reader can feel the support amongst the sisters and the women who have become their found family.

While the story focuses on Graciela and Consuela, their other sisters offer their voices throughout the story and even their support through memory. At times it was slightly difficult to follow these added narratives but this was minor. The story is character-driven and presents several stages of history from perspectives not often seen. Overall a beautiful story that I will be thinking about for a long time. I can't wait to read other works by this author and hope to purchase a physical copy of this book when it is officially published.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Gorgeous and magically done story with some really really sad elements about how people (women in particular) can survive through the toughest times and adversity. Thanks for the arc

This was a heartbreaking story but it had so much to say about how women can survive. I thought the story was unlike anything I ever read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.