LOCA

"Heartfelt, captivating, and poignant, Heredia's debut novel shows how friendship not only connects people to each other but also anchors them to the many facets of their own selfhoods...A novel of losses and returns, Loca encourages readers to seek out their own definitions of home." - Booklist Online"In this remarkable debut, Alejandro Heredia traces young lives from the streets of Santo Domingo to the streets of the Bronx, capturing the heartbreak of queer youth, a woman's rebellion against the confines of motherhood, and, above all, the pain and power of friendship that extends across seas, and borders, and the struggle of working people to survive in America. It is the most generously written novel I have read in a very long time, and that generosity is a beautiful thing." - Pulitzer Prize and National Award Book Award finalist for Imagine Me Gone and You Are Not A Stranger Here"Heredia writes to all the locas who, torn between depression and desire, dare to keep moving, chase dreams, and face their failures nonetheless." - New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming and Anita de Monte Laughs Last"In a novel that is as tender as it is brilliant, Heredia writes with ferocity and warmth." - author of Family Lore"A queer book, yes, a Dominican book, too, a Spanglish book, sure, and as such a quintessentially American novel, a beautiful one." - New York Times bestselling author of Leave the World Behind and Entitlement"Eloquent and vibrant. Alejandro Heredia is a deeply gifted writer." - author of This Strange Eventful History"The tension, love, curiosity and sometimes downright confusion within Loca reads as real...It's giving a pulsing, vibing transnational transcultural setting." - The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette