When demolition begins on a nearby tenement, the Guerreros are forced to reimagine their life in Nothar Park, the predominantly Dominican part of New York City where they have lived for the last twenty years. The family fragments—the elder, Eusebia, scheming to stop construction, the daughter, Luz, distracted by a sweltering romance with the developer, and the father, Vladimir, secretly scheming to retire in the Dominican Republic. PEN awardee Cleyvis Natera’s debut novel, Neruda on the Park, is a long-awaited interrogation of the pressures of gentrification, and what happens when the forces of ambition uproot a long-settled family tree.
Join Natera in conversation with Kirkus Prize finalist Naima Coster as they unpack this electric debut and interrogate the sacrifices we must make to protect what we love most.