“Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer” by Jamie Figueroa

Jamie Figueroa’s debut novel “Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer” is a fever dream, by turns lyrical, often highly disturbing. The boundaries between past and present, reality and magic are fleeting and uncertain. It is a truly gripping read from start to finish.

The foundation of the story is rooted in trauma, tragedy, and familial bonding. While many scenes are wonderous, beautiful, loving, and kind, many others are dark and foreboding. And the reader does not get much if any advance warning. You may be going along languishing in the beauty of Figueroa’s sentences and all of a sudden read a bit that makes you stop, ask yourself, “What was that?”, re-read, and process. I love books like that.

I do not know Ms. Figueroa’s background, but I look forward to soon finding out. She clearly knows about what she is writing and has beautiful style and technique. We are going to be hearing a lot about her as “Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer” is going to appeal to a wide audience.

Thank you to Catapult and NetGalley for the dARC. Much appreciated.