Daughters of the Stone: A Novel
"Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa'sDaughters of the Stonesings as few novels can.  It also tells us of a culture and nation that is underrepresented in our literature: Puerto Rico. And it does so with brilliant flourishes in a narrative both gripping and intimate.  Conveying a wide sweep of history, as witnessed by several generations of women, the book has the warmth of autobiography while sustaining a firm and stately control of technique and language."--2010 PEN Literary Awards Program"This commanding exploration of women's history will resonate with readers of strong African American feminist narratives like those of Toni Morrison and Ntozake Shange. With its unflinching description of slavery, it should also appeal to readers of slave narratives like Charles Johnson'sMiddle Passageand Manu Herbstein'sAma: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade."--Library Journal (starred review)“[A] compelling debut…Beautifully told by Llanos-Figueroa, this is an unforgettable saga of the magical beliefs binding one family for generations.”--Booklist"Llanos-Figueroa's first novel is a beautiful, sensual tale of mothers and daughters, love and sorrow, hardship and pride."--Minneapolis Star Tribune"Rejoice! Here is a novel you've never read before: the story of a long line of extraordinary Afro-Puerto Rican women silenced by history. InDaughters of the Stone, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa rescues them from oblivion and richly, compellingly, magically, introduces them to literature--and to the world. Bienvenidas!"—Cristina García, author ofA Handbook to Luck"This is a remarkable first novel, both magical and deeply real, that vividly renders the power of storytelling to a diasporic people. The story of each woman in her own time and place is like a luminous fiber, meticulously spun from hay into gold, which woven together creates an unforgettable history, grounded in a black stone that symbolizes the legends and rituals of the Old Ones, but spiraling into a wider world that connects stone to memory and earth to continents. I am happy to add such a clairvoyant new voice to the Latina literary heritage. Llanos-Figueroa's 'Fela', with her embroidery skills, her dreaming, and her dance of loss and survival, is kindred spirit to my own 'Concepción'. I could not resist the magnetic pull of these stories."--Alicia Gaspar de Alba, author ofCalligraphy of the WitchIn her first novel, Llanos-Figueroa chronicles the experiences of a seldom-discussed group, the descendants of African slaves in Puerto Rico. In a straightforward narrative style, sprinkled with magic realism, the book relates the stories passed from mother to daughter through five generations of powerful women, beginning with Fela, a proud West African who brings a stone of great power with her into slavery. Fela's daughter Mati uses the stone to become a curandera, or healer. In succeeding generations, each of Fela's female descendants alternately discovers her powers and then rejects them, experiences the failure of a husband to understand her needs, and makes mistakes with her daughter. Finally, Fela's great-great granddaughter Carisa returns to Puerto Rico from New York, rescues her ancestral stories from oblivion, and brings the power of the stone full circle. VERDICT This commanding exploration of women's history will resonate with readers of strong African American feminist nar (Andrea KempfLibrary Journal)