Fina is a big girl with a big mouth. She's the neighborhood bruja, or spirit worker as she likes to call herself, casting spells for her neighbors in Manhattan's Upper West Side. She can't believe it, though, when she puts an accidental fufu or spell on Chico, the irresistible trumpet player who lives upstairs. "With so many scraps of his clothing . . . sprinkled with blood, gunpowder, sugar, spit, and God knows what else, poor Chico's body didn't know if it was being cursed or blessed." Chico recovers just as two women from his past turn up: his former beauty-queen lover and an attractive young woman claiming to be his long-dead daughter. Fina is not pleased. So she visits her mentor, Tata Victor Tumba Fuego, Master of Fire. He specializes in Palo Monte, the Afro-Caribbean magical art of controlling and manipulating spirits housed in cauldrons. The Ancient One, the oldest spirit working for Victor, wants a blood sacrifice from Fina, something she has managed to avoid. "We ain't on the island no more, we don't sacrifice in the mountains of Africa or Cuba; we do it in our apartments." But she needs help, so she'll do what it takes. All too soon she finds herself involved with a spirit whose quest for revenge can't be stopped. Weaving Afro-Caribbean witchcraft rituals with the sixteen-year-old mystery of a woman's disappearance, Outside the Bones is an erotically charged ghost story set in both present-day New York and Puerto Rico. Following in the tradition of Anne Rice, Lyn Di Iorio's brilliant debut novel takes a mesmerizing look at issues of race, class, power and greed.

Outside the Bones

Literature & Fiction

Di Iorio, Lyn

United States

Arte Publico Press

What happens when a terrible storm threatens to destroy an island? Can one little girl, Marisol,manage to swim the ocean and save her beloved Puerto Rico? 'Monster Maria' is a magical picture book that tells her story: a book about love, family, community and resilience. ¿Qué sucede cuando una terrible tormenta amenaza con destruir una isla? ¿Puede una niña, Marisol, lograr nadar en el océano y salvar a su amado Puerto Rico? 'Marisol y el Huracán María' es un libro de imágenes mágicas que cuenta su historia: un libro sobre el amor, la familia, la comunidad y la resiliencia.

Monster Maria / Marisol y El Huracán María

Children's Books

Laskin, Pamela

Science, Nature & How It Works

Operating System

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Books by Di Iorio, Lyn