I was very excited to get this book as a digital ARC because the description sounded exactly like a book I wanted to read. However, I struggled to get into the story. Some sections were overly descriptive that I found myself skimming, but then I missed out on parts of the story that left me confused. It ended up as a DNF for me. I might try this as an audiobook at another time to see if that will capture my attention.

I received a digital ARC of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Volcano Daughters begins in El Salvador in the early 1900’s during the dictatorship of president Maximiliano Hernández Martínez. Actually his name isn’t even worth mentioning as in the story, he is simply El Gran Pendejo or The General. The story opens just after Salvadoran soldiers massacre thousands of indigenous people who lived up in the mountains, and worked as bonded laborers in the coffee fields. By means of a Greek chorus of ghosts—Lourdes, María, Cora and Lucia—we learn they were a group of childhood friends who were left for dead, along with their friend Graciela who is the sole survivor. Years before, Graciela’s older sister Consuelo was forcefully taken from their mother, by their father, to live with him in the capital with his new wife. Their father Germán escaped the drudgery of farm work when a wealthy white man offered to send him to school in Switzerland. In time, strangely enough, he becomes a spiritual advisor, an oracle, to The General.

The ghosts having been deprived of life too early, “hitch a ride” on Graciela’s and Consuelo’s life threads, and follow along with them to the capital, into the diaspora, and all that follows for the rest of their lives. But our ghostly friends, also have another agenda, they “haunt” and whisper into Graciela’s ears encouraging her to write their story, the story of the volcano daughters.

Balibrera paints in broad strokes the history of El Salvador’s troubling times and how these women’s lives were affected and how they coped with the genocide, sociopolitical chaos during The General’s reign of terror and life in the diaspora. It was a bit of a stretch of the imagination where the author takes the sisters, once they escape the capitol, but I was up for the ride. Or was it a stretch? There wasn’t an author’s note indicating what was historical and where she took creative license and I felt like I needed more here. I grew to enjoy our Greek chorus of puckish ghosts which lightened up some of the heavier moments. Although, I did find the use of certain repetitive words or phrases rather annoying. Overall, I thought it was an engaging debut novel, which enlightened an important part of El Salvador’s history. I highly recommend it to those that want a compelling story of sisterhood and friendship, or fans of Central American culture, history, and magical realism.


Many thanks to the author @TheGinaMaria, @PantheonBooks and @NetGalley for the pleasure of reading this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

All I can say is “wow!” Gina Maria Balibrera’s Volcano Daughters is amazing. It’s the story of two indigenous sisters growing up on the volcano in El Salvador. One sister is taken from their mother to live with their father, who is a sort of oracle for a General who will later become dictator. When their father dies mysteriously, the other daughter is brought to the capital to take his place. As the Dictator, El Grand Pendejo, descends into madness, the girls run for their lives after being the only survivors of a massacre. They each think the other dead and struggle to make new lives in California and Paris. The story is also told by the ghosts of a group of girls who were childhood friends of the sisters. I appreciate NetGalley for the opportunity to read and share a review.

The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera tells the story of two sisters, Graciela and Consuelo, growing up in 1920s El Salvador. They're born into a small community on a volcano where indentured women endure the harsh conditions of working coffee plantations, and the novel beautifully portrays the strength and unbreakable bond among these women. Consuelo is kidnapped by her father as a young child and grows up in the capital, never knowing her younger sister, Graciela, until Graciela is also forced to move to the capital and serve as an "oracle" for the dictator, El Gran Pendejo. While living in such close proximity to such a volatile man, the sisters are each other's rocks and form their own strong bond. But as violence and genocide loom, the sisters' escape results in their separation, and the novel explores their individual journeys as they fight to rebuild their lives.

Balibrera captures both the heartbreak and brutality of the sister's world while celebrating the resilience of sisterhood and the will to survive. Though filled with horrific scenes of violence and oppression, The Volcano Daughters ultimately delivers a message of hope, perseverance, and the enduring power of sisterhood. This was an incredibly moving novel, and hard to believe it was a debut! Looking forward to future work by Balibrera.

I don’t know what I expected to read for this historical fiction, but this wasn’t it. I did enjoy it, however it was a much slower read than I anticipated, it focused on things I wasn’t expecting it to, and then it glazed over parts I thought there would be a lot more detail in. Even though it was told in the timeline, it still felt a little all over the place to me with the narrators commentary. It did have a very interesting plot that kept me reading though.

*Provided a DRC (digital review copy) from the publisher for review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book. I had been really highly anticipating it, but it has a totally different tone than I was expecting, and the writing style just didn't work for me. I had no problem with the Spanish sprinkled in, but the narration style was overly crass, and took away from the story for me that I couldn't continue.

I was born and raised in El Salvador during the Civil War of El Salvador so I was looking forward to this book as it was written by a Salvadoran American who wanted to write about our country. Sadly this book was not what I expected it to be.

My biggest gripe with the book is the Salvadoran Slang and Spanish words sprinkled everywhere in this book. It’s excessive and it doesn’t add anything to the story, a lot of people won’t be able to understand any of these words and it ends up in googling the words instead of immersing in the story. One example is using carcajadas instead of just describing a loud laugh, it served no purpose and it disrupted the rhythm of the book.

Some of my favorite Salvadoran folklore legends get mentioned in this book like La Siguanaba, El Cipitio and El Cadejo but none of them are explained deeply as they’re just a mention in passing to further the story in one way or another instead of enriching it which I found very unfortunate as they’re such a huge part of El Salvador culture.

Another thing about the language is specifically using “Puchica” before a person, place or object. As far as I know that is not how Puchica gets used, I also ended up calling my mom and asked her since I thought maybe I was misremembering the slang but she also agreed that is not how it’s used. Puchica is used more as an expression as “Damn!” and not “this damn chair”. In the grand scheme of things it’s not a big issue to most that is used incorrectly but it did pull me out of the book everytime I found that word in the book (which was a lot, the author loves this word).

I found the story of a mother giving her two daughters to a dictator because she had no power was what I would have loved to see and to watch her mother’s journey to get her children back. I even thought Graciela’s story was interesting as she became sorta an advisor for the dictator but it just didn’t quite have more substance to me after that. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters and the random interruptions from the dead friends didn’t add anything to the story.

I was a little nervous with this one because when it started there were all these characters and I had a hard time keeping track of what was happening.

But then the story broke off to the two main sisters, and it was told by the other characters we were introduced to in the beginning and it was easier to follow.

I liked how the author had these moments where those characters stepped in and would comment on the story, it added something unique to the novel!

Overall I enjoyed listening to this! It’s medium paced, lots of detail, and very well written.

Thank you @netgalley and @knopf for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This was one of my most anticipated new releases of the year, and unfortunately it just wasn’t the book for me. To start with, I am not good with long scenery and setting descriptions that aren’t exactly necessary to further the plot line. This is fully a personal preference of mine! The writing during scenic descriptions and throughout the novel is beautiful and poetic, but it just causes me to lose attention.

This novel jumps between different timelines, storylines, and perspectives (a lot of which are from ghosts). All of this is super cool in theory, but I often found myself having trouble keeping the characters straight, which time period we were in, and even who was speaking at points. I needed to go back and reread paragraphs in an attempt to discern all of this. The author also uses a fair amount of Spanish without translations. My Spanish fluency is mediocre, and I at least got the gist of those parts, but I can see this being very frustrating for readers not familiar with the language.

Overall, I fell in love with the concept and the writing, but it was just too hard for me to follow. I think this is a book you have to read really slowly, which just isn’t what I do. Don’t count it out, though, because I think a lot of y’all would really love this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted ARC

Gina María Balibrera’s debut novel, "The Volcano Daughters," is a captivating blend of history, identity, and women’s resilience. Set during the Salvadoran Civil War, it intertwines generational trauma, magical realism, and the complex bonds between mothers and daughters.

Balibrera’s lyrical prose vividly depicts volcanic landscapes and spiritual connections, merging historical fiction with mystical elements. The richly developed characters, especially the central women, showcase the persistence of strength and resilience through personal and political turmoil.

The novel balances the brutality of war with moments of hope and survival, highlighting the power of stories across generations. "The Volcano Daughters" is a profound debut, celebrating El Salvador and exploring womanhood, heritage, and resistance. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy historical depth, lyrical prose, and emotional intensity.

A lovely, sprawling story of sisters torn apart and reunited through their lifetimes. As a latina I try and read latine books regularly, but Central American authors are fewer and further between. I'm so glad to see a book that discusses some of El Salvador's history getting this kind of attention. Balibrera's writing kept me engaged from the very beginning; I'll definitely be looking out for more from her in the future.

I love a good slow burn and love books that take their time to flesh out a great story but this plot was not moving along fast enough nor did it interest me enough to keep reading. The very beginning was very interesting but right around 1/3 of the book i lost interest. I do understand that this book simply could not be for me but I also had a hard time following along with some of the phrases that were in Spanish. The writer writes very beautiful and lyrical but however this was just not for me.

It took me a while to read The Volcano Daughters, even though I loved it from the first page. The slower pace surprised me at first (I'm generally a fast reader), because I was never bored by this book or tempted to put it down. There's a lot going on on each page, and even the ghosts don't fully understand what's happening; however the confident narration pulled me along. This is a book full of textures and creeping dread, moving back and forth between languages, set in El Salvador during the General's increasingly unhinged dictatorship. It's narrated by four ghosts, indigenous girls, killed, as they tell us right away, in a political massacre, but the main characters are their friends who escaped (from death at least), sisters Graciela and Consuelo. The four ghosts provide spicy commentary on what's happening, and I loved their voices. I also found them a bit of a relief from the creeping horror of Consuelo and Graciela's lives in the General's circle. I highly recommend this novel.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my free earc. My opinions are all my own.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I have such mixed feelings about this book… Is it possible to simultaneously like something while disliking it at the same time?

Even though this is a tragic story (it does end in hope!), The Volcano Daughters is written in such beautiful, lyrical prose that conveyed so much historical informational that I couldn’t help being in awe of what I was reading. I learned so much about life in El Salvador in the early 1900s, especially in regards to race (being mestiza), living under a dictatorship, and life as a political refugee in the West.

While I know that this is fiction, there is a lot of truth in this story.

But next to all of that, the prose would sometimes become strangely basic and lowbrow. I understand that the story is told by ghosts of massacred girls (I actually didn’t mind their Greek chorus sections where they had dialogues with each other), but when the two FMCs, Consuelo and Graciela, grow up, it became kind of childish to still refer to the dictator as “El Gran Pendejo.”

Maybe it’s just me, but it felt jarring to read a passage that read sort of childish when a chapter before, there would be some passages on the massacre or a passage on what it means to be indio.

Besides that, this book is obviously meant to read as magical realism. It was hard to drum that into my head when Consuelo and Graciela’s lives (after escaping El Salvador) would sometimes seem too remarkable and fantastical and way too easy (I’m not sure if that’s the right word). Graciela almost becoming a movie star? Consuelo’s artsy life in France? Totally cool, but let’s be real here.

Despite all of that, I’m interested in reading more from Gina María Balibrera. I did love the more serious aspects of this novel.

Thank you to Pantheon and NetGalley for this arc.

The Volcano Daughters was beautifully written with generations of mystical, and lyrical storytelling. The two main characters are sisters trying to escape the genocide in El Salvador. Both girls experience challenges and hardships while navigating their purpose of life. A little more confusing for me, their are four ghosts in the story who watch over and protect the sisters. I appreciate the author, Gina Maria Balibrera, shed light on a very heavy and an unknown period of time. I did struggle overall with this read, the Spanish writing was a disconnect for me. First I tried at reading the e-book, and quickly switched to the audiobook. Both were very difficult for me. However, the author is very talented in her prose and for other readers that understand Spanish this book could be enjoyable. For that reason, I am rating it three stars.

The Volcano Daughters is a beautifully crafted and poignant novel, with Gina María Balibrera weaving a memorable tale of women's strength and resilience that lingers long after the last page.

So, let's talk about "The Volcano Daughters" by Gina María Balibrera. This book is a deep dive into the lives of two siblings, and it’s some seriously epic storytelling. There's no denying that it’s both beautiful and heartbreaking—Balibrera’s writing is so good that I found myself completely lost in the story multiple times. The imagery, the emotions, the depth—it's all there.

But, and this is a big but, the pacing is sloooow. And for someone like me who values a brisk pace in a book, this one took some effort to push through. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad I read it, but I’d be lying if I said it was a page-turner. It’s one of those books where you have to really settle in and let the story unfold at its own pace.

Now, if you’re the kind of reader who loves to savor a slow burn, then "The Volcano Daughters" might be right up your alley. For me, though, it was a bit of a challenge. That said, I absolutely love Balibrera’s writing style—there are moments in this book that are so vivid and immersive that I felt like I was right there in the scene. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from her and seeing if the pacing picks up in her other work.

So, if you like slow and steady reading, pick up this book. It’s a journey worth taking, even if it’s not the fastest one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon Books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review

A lover of historical fiction as well as reading to learn about a previously unfamiliar country, I was very much looking forward to reading Gina Maria Balibrera’s debut novel, The Volcano Daughters. The tale begins in El Salvador of the 1920s,in a small town at the edge of a volcano, where the inhabitants farm the land for meager survival as foreign interests reap the benefits. A railroad Is being built to assist the colonizers in faster transport of the goods.

Two sisters, whose father is the second in command and chief advisor to ruthless dictator, El Gran Pendejo, have never met each other. Consuelo, the eldest has been kidnapped to the capital by the tyrant’s orders. Graciela, significantly younger and very attached to her mother, is beckoned to the capital when her father dies. It is there that she is also stolen from her mothers to live her life as the new advisor to El Gran Pandejo. The child learns quickly to report exactly what the tyrant wants to hear. As time passes, both sisters are able to escape the massacre in El Salvador as the story follows their lives to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Paris. The author examines, through her characters what it means to be an immigrant escaping massacre and brutality. It is a tale of resilience, courage, and survival.

The plot itself is compelling and important.. Yet is was a very difficult read and therefore not as enjoyable as I had hoped or expected. It was hard for an English speaker like myself to read this book as there is a great deal of unrecognizable Spanish that is not self explanatory in context: very frustrating. I lost much of the meaning. There is also a chorus of four ghosts that appears continuously throughout the book. They are dead friends of the main characters who give details and background as the story progresses. I found this chorus of voices distracting and prolonged, inserting an abundance of magical thinking that was overkill for me.

All of that said, I believe this is an author with talent. At its best, the writing is lyrical, poetic and engaging. Ms Balibrera is an author whose next work I am willing to attempt. Hopefully I won’t encounter a language barrier. Three stars for an interesting, original but at times slow and tedious read. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf,Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for providing me with an advance reader’s copy in exchange for my review. It was published on August 20,2024.

If you love the magical realism style with Latin/South American Lore such as those by the literary great Gabriel García Márquez, then you will love this novel.
Now if that’s not your thing but you thought the premise of the novel sounded amazing (me) but then had to reread several parts because you lost track of people (me) than maybe , like me, you should skip it.
Once I made it through the novel I was heartbroken, dear Lord this story is so sad. And I have read many a family saga of immigrants getting to America, England, and back again, but there those characters seem to finally find a permanent home, whereas they ladies seem like they’ll be lost forever. Could not have been easy to write.

The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera is a beautifully written magical realism book that are set in the past. This book is set in El Salvador in 1923. Graciela and Consuelo are sisters and are the main characters of the book.

Graciela grew up on the side of a volcano in a community of Indigenous women indentured to coffee plantations, that is until the president capital claimed she was the new oracle and needed to be in the capital alongside him. This is where she meets her older sister Consuelo, who was taken as a baby by their father (the previous oracle).

I will say that his book may not be for me; it is outside my normal genes, but it sounded so good that I couldn't resist. However, I was confused for a good bit of the book. It has a unique narration perspective woven into the character's story they are telling, which I really liked. It took me a few chapters to understand who the main characters were and what the story was about, so that may be where most of my confusion lay. This book has such vivid imagery and beautiful descriptions of the world in which it takes place. It is based on both new ideas and El Salvadoran mythology. Gina María Balibrera truly has a way with words. Even when I was confused as to what was going on, I was compelled to continue reading and listening to this book. I would highly recommend giving this book a read or listen.