From the acclaimed author of Bodega Dreams comes a stunning novel about the changing face of the American city.
Julio Santana is an arsonist. For a fee, Julio burns down buildings looked upon as unseemly by investors trying to transform the very face of the Spanish Harlem neighborhood he calls home. Julio has pocketed thousands of dollars from people who want to profit from the forced gentrification of his neighborhood, money he has used to make his parents proud by purchasing them a place of their own.
By controlling the flow of those streaming into the neighborhood, the true power players behind this insurance scam have made a fortune. So when Julio falls in love with Helen, a white woman who just moved into the neighborhood, he makes it his priority to stop setting his own neighborhood ablaze and enter into a life of clean, honest living. Little does he realize that his change for the good has angered his employers and promises to threaten Julio's life, along with the lives of everyone he loves.
As Julio struggles to live up to his decision, he is surrounded by characters who both complicate and enlighten his life. From the well-intentioned neighborhood pastor who sells illegal American citizenship papers to undocumented workers, to the Santero priest who is wise sage to all who know him, to Julio's doting, streetwise parents, the characters here are given life by Quiñonez in a novel whose themes are both current and timelessly universal.
In the end, Chango's Fire is a work about what every city in America is currently undergoing. Using his signature prose, Quiñonez paints the face of a neighborhood we can all identify with, helping to solidify his status as one of the preeminent literary chroniclers of our time.

Chango's Fire

Literature & Fiction

Quiñonez, Ernesto

United States

Rayo

In New York City's Spanish Harlem, Julio and Maritza are each searching for a path that will give their lives meaning, even if it's shadowed by controversy. Julio is an arsonist for hire, pocketing thousands of dollars from investors eager to capitalize on more expensive real estate. But when he has reason to stop setting his neighborhood ablaze and vows to change his ways, Julio's employers threaten his life - and the lives of those close to him. Maritza, meanwhile, has become the pastor of a progressive Pentecostal church - the perfect cover for the scam she's running. For the right price, she'll make anyone an American citizen. With a cast of characters as colorful as the city itself, Ernesto QuiÑonez brings to life a landscape we can all recognize.

Chango's Fire: A Novel

Harper-perennial

Julio Santana quema edificios. Por una modesta suma, Julio le prende fuego a los edificios de Harlem que algunos poderosos inversionistas quieren hacer desaparecer para cobrar el dinero del seguro, y construir nuevos edificios, más modernos, más caros, más cómodos. Julio ha ganado miles de dólares quemando las casas del mismo barrio que lo vio crecer, y con todo el dinero que ha ganado, logró comprar un apartamento en el que vive con sus padres. Pero cuando se enamora de Helen, una blanquita que acaba de mudarse a su edificio, Julio decide dejar a un lado los incendios, para llevar una vida honesta y sin complicaciones. Lo que no se esperaba, es que su cambio de parecer enfureciera tanto a sus jefes y que pronto, no sólo peligraría su propia vida, sino también la de sus seres queridos. A medida que lucha por alejarse de la vida que llevaba, Julio se ve rodeado de diversos personajes que iluminan pero también complican su existencia. De la pastora del barrio, que le consigue papeles de ciudadanía a los trabajadores indo-cumentados, a Papelito, el sabio y respetado santero, a los encantadores padres de Julio, Quiñonez le da vida a una novela cuyos personajes y temas son tan evocadores y universales que permanecerán en la mente del lector para siempre.

El Fuego de Chango: Una Novela (Spanish Edition)

In a stunning narrative combining the gritty rhythms of Junot Diaz with the noir genius of Walter Mosley, Bodega Dreams pulls us into Spanish Harlem, where the word is out: Willie Bodega is king. Need college tuition for your daughter? Start-up funds for your fruit stand? Bodega can help. He gives everyone a leg up, in exchange only for loyalty—and a steady income from the drugs he pushes. Lyrical, inspired, and darkly funny, this powerful debut novel brilliantly evokes the trial of Chino, a smart, promising young man to whom Bodega turns for a favor. Chino is drawn to Bodega's street-smart idealism, but soon finds himself over his head, navigating an underworld of switchblade tempers, turncoat morality, and murder.

Bodega Dreams

Vintage

Todos en Spanish Harlem lo saben: Willie Bodega es el rey. ¿Necesita ayuda para mantener a su hija en la escuela? ¿Para pagar el alquiler? ¿Fondos para montar un puesto de frutas? Bodega puede ayudarlos a cambio de su lealtad, y sueña con ampliar sus negocios y la vida de El Barrio con el dinero negro del tráfico de drogas. En esta intensa novela de búsqueda de identidad y redención, Julio, un joven inteligente y prometedor a quien llaman “Chino”, conoce al mítico Bodega, quien recurre a él para contactar a su amor de juventud. Atraído por el idealismo de bandido generoso de Bodega –antiguo miembro de los Young Lords y visionario que sueña con una “Gran Sociedad” de los latinos–, Chino acaba sumergido en un mundo de intrigas y violencia.

El vendedor de sueños / Bodega Dreams (Spanish Edition)

Dramas & Plays

Vintage Espanol

A uniquely dark, coming-of-age novel rife with urban magical realism, love, and redemption, from the author of Bodega Dreams When Julio, a teenager living in Spanish Harlem, hears that Taina, a pregnant fifteen-year-old from his high school claims to be a virgin, he decides to believe her. Julio has a history of strange visions and his blind and unrequited love for Taina will unleash a whirlpool of emotions that will bring him to question his hard-working Puerto Rican mother and his communist Ecuadorian father, his beliefs and even the building blocks of modern science (after seeing the conception of Taina’s baby as a revolution in nature). After meeting Taína's uncle, "El Vejigante", an ex-con with a dark past, he accepts his proposal to support her during her pregnancy and becomes entangled in a web of crime that, while taking him closer to Taína, ultimately reveals a family secret that will not leave him unscathed.

Taína

Una original y oscura novela de iniciación, rebosante de realismo mágico urbano, amor y redención, del autor de El vendedor de sueños. Julio, un joven de origen puertorriqueño y ecuatoriano que vive en el barrio de Spanish Harlem en Nueva York, sufre de extrañas visiones. Cuando decide creer a Taina, una chica de su escuela que está embarazada, pero que dice ser virgen, su amor ciego por ella desata un torbellino de emociones que llevarán a Julio a cuestionar a sus padres, su religión e incluso los principios básicos de la ciencia. Junto al tío de Taina, un ex convicto con un oscuro pasado conocido como “El Vejigante”, Julio se ve envuelto en una red de delitos que, aunque lo acercarán finalmente a Taina, terminarán también por revelar un secreto de familia del cual no saldrá indemne.

Taína (Spanish Edition) / Taína: A Novel

Taína (Spanish Edition)

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