high spirits
High Spirits is a collection of eleven interconnected short stories from the Dominican diaspora, from debut author Camille Gomera-Tavarez.
It is a book centered on one extended family – the Beléns – across multiple generations.
It is set in the fictional small town of Hidalpa – and Santo Domingo and Paterson and San Juan and Washington Heights too.
It is told in a style both utterly real and distinctly magical – and its stories explore machismo, mental health, family, and identity.
But most of all, High Spirits represents the first book from Camille Gomera-Tavarez, who takes her place as one of the most extraordinary new voices to emerge in years.
Type: Young Adult Novel
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback
Publication: October 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781646142743
Type: Young Adult Novel
Pages: 224
Format: Hardcover
Publication: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-164614-129-6
PRAISE
Pura Belpré Honor Book
Publishers Weekly Flying Start
BEST OF THE YEAR
Chicago Review of Books · Kirkus · Los Angeles Public Library
★ “Authentic and immersive…A labor of love imbued with dedication to family.”
—Kirkus (starred)
★ “Deeply personal and relatable. Steeped in nostalgia and harsh but fierce love, this is a memorable family saga in its own right.”
—Booklist (starred)
★ “Full of vivid and poetic imagery… settings worthy of drinking in, and thematic material ripe for contemplation about identity, intergenerational memory, and patriarchy and toxic masculinity, Gomera-Tavarez’s soulfully crafted debut is a sensitive, intrinsically feminist work.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred)
“A magical and unflinching look at the Dominican Diaspora”
—Dominican Writers Association
“A breath of fresh, saltwater air, Memory pervades the collection with all the vicissitudes of global identity-making, including interminable waits on visas. Expect both realism with full phrases of authentic Dominican Spanish, and full-force magic realism with the past ever-present. The last story ties the collection together with La Doña Belen’s recounting of family history, with just a hint of sweet fiction. VERDICT A must-buy for libraries serving older teens.”
—School Library Journal
About cAMILLE gOMERA-tAVAREZ
Camille Gomera-Tavarez is an Afro-Dominican writer, designer, and creative from New Jersey. She has a BFA in Graphic Design & Creative Writing from the Maryland Institute College of Art and is currently based in Philadelphia, PA. High Spirits is her debut.
