White Light

Fiction. Latino/Latina Studies. Women's Studies. Just before her father's sudden death, Cuban- American artist Veronica Gonzalez is offered her first gallery exhibit, a real chance to break into the art world. Torn between the need to mourn and the pressure to create new artwork, Veronica is propelled into a fever-dream of productivity and grief, amidst memories of her tumultuous relationship with her colorful but infuriating Cuban émigré father, a volatile man of outsize appetites and passions who never stopped longing for his homeland. Praised by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka for its "lyrical pace and texture," WHITE LIGHT maps a young woman's struggle to distill her grief, rage, and love onto the canvas.

"A relentless engine, told in rich, smart prose and lucid detail—equal parts elegy and portrait of an artist. A lush, vibrant portrayal of the creative process, a daughter's love, and the unstoppable maelstrom of grief."—Kirkus, starred review