#Dominicanreaders: Stories of Gabriel

Eva has lost her baby. Set in the South Bronx in the mid-1990s, Stories of Gabriel portrays neighbors in a tightly knit community at a time of crisis. How does this loss affect the lives of the devastated parents, their families, friends-the people on the block? What memories, heartbreaks, and quests does it spark? Haunting and intricate, Stories of Gabriel is not "a love story," but a story of several interconnected loves that have been lost or found; new or lasting. All take place just blocks apart. The vibrant Latinx Caribbean culture of the neighborhood is brought to life by debut fiction Dominican American writer Esther Alix.

"In Stories of Gabriel, Esther Alix's debut fiction, a stillborn child unravels the many hidden, layered truths that are tightly woven into one Bronx community. Alix is a master storyteller, who in six interwoven stories pulls those who choose to follow down the hallways, and into the kitchens, and up onto the terraces of a Bronx block where news travels fast and secrets die hard. In Gabriel we see how a sudden trauma in one family can unwrap the collective pain, and grief, and heartbreak-as well as the resilience, and love, and longing-we all carry as individuals, and as families, and as communities. Alix has painted a remarkable and moving portrait of an endangered American institution-a real neighborhood, with very real people, forced to face the truth about each other and themselves."