Popular North American Magical Realism Books
Find magical realism books written by authors from North America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (36)
21.
Recollections of Things to Come by Elena Garro EN
Country: North America / 
Mexico
Mexico
Description:
This remarkable first novel depicts life in the small Mexican town of Ixtepec during the grim days of the Revolution. The town tells its own story against a variegated background of political change, religious persecution, and social unrest. Elena Garro, who has also won a high reputation as a playwright, is a masterly storyteller. Although her plot is dramatically intense and suspenseful, the novel does not depend for its effectiveness on narrative continuity. It is a book of episodes, one that leaves the reader with a series of vivid impressions. The colors are bright, the smells pungent, th... continue
22.
Redemption in Indigo : A Novel by Karen Lord EN
Country: North America / 
Barbados
Barbados
Description:
When Paama leaves her husband, she attracts the attention of the undying ones who present her with the Chaos Stick, which allows her to manipulate the subtle forces of the world.
23.
Sharks in the Time of Saviors : A Novel by Kawai Strong Washburn EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a groundbreaking debut novel that folds the legends of Hawai’ian gods into an engrossing family saga; a story of exile and the pursuit of salvation from Kawai Strong Washburn. “Old myths clash with new realities, love is in a ride or die with grief, faith rubs hard against magic, and comic flips with tragic so much they meld into something new. All told with daredevil lyricism to burn. A ferocious debut.” —Marlon James, author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf “So good it hurts and hurts to where it heals. It is revelatory and unputdownable. Washburn is an extraordina... continue
24.
Swift as Desire by Laura Esquivel EN
Country: North America / Mexico
Mexico
Description:
As the millions of fans of Like Water for Chocolate know, Laura Esquivel is a romanticist whose novels explore the power of love and the truths of the human heart. She returns to those themes in Swift as Desire, the story of a loving and passionate man who has the gift of bringing happiness to everyone except his own wife. The hero of this novel is Júbilo Chi, a telegraph operator who is born with the ability to “hear” people’s true feelings and respond to their most intimate, unspoken desires. His life changes forever the day he falls deeply and irrevocably in love with Lucha, the beautiful d... continue
25.
The Black Cathedral by Marcial Gala EN
Country: North America / 
Cuba
Cuba
Description:
Haunting and transcendently twisted, this English-language debut from a Cuban literary star is a tale of race, magic, belief, and fate The Stuart family moves to a marginal neighborhood of Cienfuegos, a city on the southern coast of Cuba. Arturo Stuart, a charismatic, visionary preacher, discovers soon after arriving that God has given him a mission: to build a temple that surpasses any before seen in Cuba, and to make of Cienfuegos a new Jerusalem. In a neighborhood that roils with passions and conflicts, at the foot of a cathedral that rises higher day by day, there grows a generation marked... continue
26.
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
WINNER OF THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION NATIONAL BESTSELLER A brilliantly inventive new novel about loss, growing up, and our relationship with things, by the Booker Prize-finalist author of A Tale for the Time Being One year after the death of his beloved musician father, thirteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house—a sneaker, a broken Christmas ornament, a piece of wilted lettuce. Although Benny doesn't understand what these things are saying, he can sense their emotional tone; some are pleasant, a gentle hum or coo, but others are snide, ang... continue
27.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories : A Novel by Julia Alvarez EN
Country: North America / 
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Description:
"When celebrated writer Alma Cruz inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic, she turns it into a place to bury her untold stories--literally. She creates a graveyard for manuscript drafts and revisions and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her. Alma wants her characters to rest in peace, but they have other ideas, and the cemetery becomes a mysterious sanctuary for their true narratives."--
28.
The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Award-winning author Kelly Barnhill brings her singular talents to The Crane Husband, a raw, powerful story of love, sacrifice, and family. “Mothers fly away like migrating birds. This is why farmers have daughters.” A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern family, budgeting the household finances and raising her younger brother while her mom, a talented artist, weaves beautiful tapestries. For six years, it’s been just the three of them—her mom has brought home guests at times, but none have ever stayed. Yet when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a mena... continue
29.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after - and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom soon finds himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor&#... continue
30.
The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel EN
Country: North America / Mexico
Mexico
Description:
A cosmic love story, A Mexican Midsummer Night's Dream that stretches from the fall of Montezuma's Mexico to the 23rd century. By including the music that so perfectly accompanies the story, it weaves an enchanting spell that will absorb readers in ways no novel ever has before.