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A haunting exploration of female friendship, desire, and memory set against the sultry backdrop of Florida’s swamplands.
It’s been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra, a fearless rebel who fled their hometown of Hialeah, a Cuban neighbourhood just west of Miami, for college in the Northeast. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend getaway at a house in the Everglades, she impulsively accepts.
From the moment Ingrid sets out for the house, danger looms: the directions are difficult, she’s out of reach of cell service, and as she drives deeper into the Everglades, the wet maw of the swamp threatens to swallow her whole. But once Ingrid arrives, Mayra is, in many ways, just as she remembers — with her sharp tongue and effortless, seductive beauty, still thumbing her nose at the world.
Before they can fully settle into the familiar intimacy of each other’s company, their reunion is spoiled by the reemergence of past disagreements and the unexpected presence of Mayra’s new boyfriend, Benji. The trio spend their hours eating lavish meals and exploring the labyrinthine house, which holds as much mystery and danger as the swamp itself. Indoors and on the grounds, time itself seems to expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself.
Against this disquieting setting, where lizards dart in and out of porches and alligators peek up from dark waters, Gonzalez weaves a propulsive, unforgettable story about the dizzying power of early friendship and the lengths we’ll go to earn love and acceptance — even at the risk of losing ourselves entirely.
- A twisty gothic debut about two women who shared an intense, toxic friendship as children — reconnecting at a secluded house deep in the swamplands of Florida. Ingrid takes Mayra up on her invite to a remote house in the Everglades. The novel becomes dreamlike and unnerving as Ingrid plumbs the depths of the labyrinthine house and the memories of her long-dormant relationship with Mayra.
- Scribe’s lead fiction title for the season is a gothic/horror masterpiece for readers of Shirley Jackson, Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, and Sula by Toni Morrison.
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