Join author Melissa Coss Aquino, in conversation with Danya Kukafka, to celebrate the publication of her debut novel Carmen & Grace.

Carmen and Grace have been inseparable since childhood, survivors of an upbringing marked by neglect and addiction— that is, until a woman named Doña Durka swept into their lives and changed everything, taking Grace into her home, providing stability and support, and playing an outsized role in Carmen’s upbringing too.

But Durka is more than a beneficent force in their Bronx neighbourhood. She's also the leader of an underground drug empire, a larger-than-life matriarch who understands the vital importance of taking what power she can in a world too often ruled by violent men. When Durka dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Carmen and Grace’s lives are thrown into chaos. Grace has been primed to take over and has grand plans to expand the business. But Carmen is secretly pregnant and ready to move on—out from the shadow of Durka and her high expectations, and most of all, from always looking over her shoulder in fear, desperate to build a new life before the baby arrives.

This Bronx-set Latinx debut presents a moving mediation on the choices of women and the legacy of violence. This virtual event promises to be as tough and tender as the main characters in this debut filled with raw beauty, depth of feeling and heart-pounding plot. Do not miss out.

Electric, heartrending, and exceptionally tender…Every sentence of Melissa Coss Aquino's debut feels acute and deliberate, a shard of glass held up to the light. Danya Kukafka

Prepare to not breathe. This is a remarkable, heart-pounding book based on the best kind of tension—the real kind. Carmen and Grace is the story of two young women swept into the underground drug trade, each trying desperately to gain freedom, in their own ways. It is by turns touching, terrifying, and mesmerizing. Melissa Coss Aquino is a brilliant writer and this is the book of the year. Rene Denfeld