"Tough, tender and laced with tension, this Bronx-set Latinx crime drama tells a heart-pounding tale of female friendship, survival, courage and community."
Reeling with raw beauty and an unstoppable spirit of survival, Melissa Coss Aquino’s Carmen and Grace debut is a devastatingly forceful coming of age novel set around an underground drug empire in the Bronx. Powered by the harrowing struggles and courage of two cousins who’ve been inseparable since they were little girls, it’s an exceptional crime drama underpinned by a sense of hope that it’s possible to break the most vicious cycles of violence, and that lost girls can be found, and come to find themselves.
Carmen and Grace are characters you won’t forget in a hurry. Cousins who are more like sisters, they survived tough childhoods marred by addiction and neglect. While Grace has a desire for power, Carmen wants a different kind of life. Into this comes Doña Durka, a powerful matriarchal figure in their Bronx neighbourhood who takes Grace in and also looks out for Carmen. But with this sense of strong stability comes the violence and risk that goes with the drugs trade, for Doña Durka oversees a drugs empire.
What happens when the matriarch kingpin suddenly dies and Grace is set to take over and expand the business will have you on the edge of your seat. Consummately gritty and gripping, Carmen and Grace explores ambition, injustice, breaking constraints and sisterhood with fire and heart.
| Genres: |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction Thriller: organised crime Narrative theme: Identity / belonging Narrative theme: Love and relationships |
