The Volcano Daughters

Set in 20th-century El Salvador, The Volcano Daughters is a powerful novel about sisterhood, art, and a community of women who refuse to be silenced.

'A gripping and spellbinding novel about a sisterhood ripped apart by violence, narrated by a ghostly chorus. An unforgettable debut.' Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half

Nine-year-old Graciela is raised in the shadow of El Salvador's Izalco volcano, until the day she is taken to the capital city by the country's fearsome – and fearsomely superstitious – dictator, who believes her to be a muse capable of foreseeing the future.

There, Graciela meets Consuelo, the sister she never knew existed. Consuelo is everything she is not – volatile, dreamy and teenaged – yet despite their differences, the sisters form an unlikely bond. When the dictator's brutality is finally unleashed, El Salvador is forever changed. Graciela and Consuelo survive the massacre, but most of their community are not so lucky.

From San Salvador to Los Angeles, Paris to San Francisco, this is the story of two sisters and the people they left behind. Their voices, once just a whimper, now shout louder than ever. Listen.

A Most Anticipated Book of the Year from Vulture and Electric Literature