Wow! This novel was absolutely beautiful! Quiara Alegria Hudes gives us a perfectly flawed narrator who I found myself in equal measures horrified by and empathizing with throughout the novel. April’s rage screams from the pages at times and quietly seethes at others. Abandonment is at the heart of this novel but also reclamation of the self and the hope that by leaving a mother can break the cycle of pain that has persisted for generations.
The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes, (List Price: $26, One World, 9780593732335, November 2025)
Reviewed by Kelsey Jagneaux, Tombolo Books in St Petersburg, Florida