I am hard at work on my new novel, The Gift of the Cuentista. It is about a young girl of mixed heritage, Isla Sanchez Larsen, whose young life is difficult, what with her father's death and mother's alcoholism. Isla struggles with her identity, only wishing to find her place in the world. She spends her summers with her mother's family in Puerto Rico, and during her eighth year her beloved Abuela dies. Isla's grandmother was a cuentista, a storyteller, and that night Isla has a vision of one of Abuela's stories, and soon discovers that the visions will not stop until she writes them down. As a storyteller in the family dies, more visions come, and with time she discovers that not only can she not interfere in the events, but they can be dangerous.
As her teenage years approach, her mother find sobriety, and Isla begins to build a life for herself in New York City. The visions fade and she slowly turns her back on her Puerto Rican roots and the gift of the cuentista. But years late during a college class the gift comes back with a vengeance. She has a vision of her great Aunt Alma that puts Isla's life in danger and will not stop with the writing down. She comes to realize that her dead Aunt is trying to tell her something. Isla returns to Puerto Rico after a five year absence and while uncovering Alma's secret, she recovers her own identity as a Sanchez and a Latina.
The Gift of the Cuentista, while a work of fiction, is based on my own search for identity and the desire to replant my Puerto Rican roots. I was always been inspired by the storytelling in my family, a role that often (but not always) fell to the women. I liked the idea of these cuentos playing out for Isla, and that the power of the gift is in the recording of these stories.
I look forward to sharing this tale with you when it is done.