THE STORYTELLER’S DEATH
From International Latino Book Award-winning author Ann Dávila Cardinal comes a gorgeously written family saga about a Puerto Rican teenager who finds herself gifted (or cursed?) with a strange ability.
There was always an old woman dying in the back room of her family’s house when Isla was a child…
Isla Larsen Sanchez’s life begins to unravel when her father passes away. Instead of being comforted at home in New Jersey, her mother starts leaving her in Puerto Rico with her grandmother and great-aunt each summer like a piece of forgotten luggage.
When Isla turns eighteen,
From International Latino Book Award-winning author Ann Dávila Cardinal comes a gorgeously written family saga about a Puerto Rican teenager who finds herself gifted (or cursed?) with a strange ability.
There was always an old woman dying in the back room of her family’s house when Isla was a child…
Isla Larsen Sanchez’s life begins to unravel when her father passes away. Instead of being comforted at home in New Jersey, her mother starts leaving her in Puerto Rico with her grandmother and great-aunt each summer like a piece of forgotten luggage.
When Isla turns eighteen, her grandmother, a great storyteller, dies. It is then that Isla discovers she has a gift passed down through her family’s cuentistas. The tales of dead family storytellers are brought back to life, replaying themselves over and over in front of her.
At first, Isla is enchanted by this connection to the Sanchez cuentistas. But when Isla has a vision of an old murder mystery, she realizes that if she can’t solve it to make the loop end, these seemingly harmless stories could cost Isla her life.
- Sourcebooks
- Paperback
- October 2022
- 336 Pages
- 9781728250779
Buy the Book
$16.99
About Ann Dávila Cardinal
Ann Dávila Cardinal is a novelist and Director of Recruitment for Vermont College of Fine Arts where she also earned her MFA in Writing. She comes from a long line of Puerto Rican writers, including father and son poets Virgilio and José Antonio Dávila, and her cousin, award-winning fiction writer Tere Dávila. Ann’s first novel, Sister Chicas, was co-written with Jane Alberdeston Coralin and Lisa Alvarado, and was released from New American Library. Her next novel, a horror young adult work titled Five Midnights, was released by Tor Teen on June 4, 2019. The story continues in Category Five, also from Tor Teen, released on June 2, 2020. Ann lives in Vermont where she cycles, knits, and prepares for the zombie apocalypse.
Praise
BuzzFeed’s 20 Highly Anticipated Thrillers of 2022
BookRiot’s 15 Best New Mystery Books of 2022
Goodreads’ Books to Read for Hispanic Heritage Month
CrimeReads’ Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2022
“A beautiful book about family, memories, and the power of stories.” —BuzzFeed
“Mystical, masterful storytelling.” —Ms. Magazine
“Ann Dávila Cardinal writes with the razored clarity of a surgeon, the spare and evocative beauty of a poet, and the immensely compelling passion of a natural born storyteller. I will gratefully read anything she writes!” — Andre Dubus III, New York Times bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog
Discussion Questions
1. Family secrets play a huge role in The Storyteller’s Death. How do family secrets start and take on a life of their own? Have you ever discovered something shocking about a relative’s past that changed your understanding of them? Who are the storytellers in your family?
2. Describe Isla as a character. What circumstances make her an outsider both in Puerto Rico and New Jersey? What is her biggest obstacle?
3. What makes someone a cuentista throughout the story? How do stories gain power even when they aren’t strictly true?
4. Alma quickly separates Isla and José when they first meet as children. When you first read that scene, why did you think she stopped their budding friendship? Does knowing more about Alma’s own past change your understanding?
5. How do Isla’s visions change her view of her family’s place in their community? What does she learn about their wealth, politics, and personal pride?
6. The Sanchezes are very proud of their Spanish heritage. Why do Alma and Tío Ramón emphasize this aspect of their lineage? How does that focus on the past contrast with the environment around them?
7. José dismisses Isla at the Partido Popular Democrático rally because he believes her family is pro-statehood. Why does he think that? Why does the PPD oppose the possibility of Puerto Rico becoming a U.S. state?
8. What do quenepas represent for José? How does sharing the fruit with Isla mark a change in their relationship?
9. What motivated Marisol, Alma’s sister, to arrange for both Pedro’s and her own father’s deaths?
10. What’s next for the Sanchez family? Do you think they’ll be able to follow Isla and Elena’s example and move toward greater openness?