We Have Always Been Who We Are
A Ms. Magazine Pick of the Month's Best Reads for the Rest of Us
A Library Journal Pick of Fall Books
A BookRiot Pick of the Month's New Releases
An Electric Literature Pick of Scary Stories by Latina Writers
Longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award
Honorable mention for the 2024 International Latino Book Award for Best Short Story Collection
From Pushcart Prize–nominated author Sofia T. Romero comes a breathtaking debut collection of interrelated stories suffused with magical realism.
In stories that evoke the haunting beauty of New England beaches and resonate with a bittersweet loneliness, Romero blurs the lines between life and death, reality and fantasy. A deceased woman counsels her son’s fiancée on how to be a good wife to him, with disastrous consequences. A mysterious, commanding cat appears in a young woman’s home, as inexplicable as the demise of her years-long relationship with her boyfriend. At turns humorous, sorrowful, and whimsical, this collection spans the familiar setting of a college-town supermarket and eerie dystopias that are not just postpandemic but postart. Romero masterfully conveys the follies of youth and the regrets of life, and a sense of loss—of a relationship, a child, a time before—pervades each page.
With this remarkable debut, Romero joins the ranks of writers such as Brenda Peynado and Marytza K. Rubio, offering a superb collection of speculative fiction with a distinctly Latina perspective. We Have Always Been Who We Are is at its heart a testament to the power of storytelling, and an invitation to develop our inner strength through the imagination.
Praise