Chango's Fire - by Ernesto Quinonez (Paperback)

About the Book

From the critically acclaimed author of "Bodega Dreams" comes a striking novel about destiny, curses, urban gentrification, and finding true love in the most unlikely of places.

From the Back Cover

In New York City's Spanish Harlem, Julio and Maritza are each searching for a path that will give their lives meaning, even if it's shadowed by controversy. Julio is an arsonist for hire, pocketing thousands of dollars from investors eager to capitalize on more expensive real estate. But when he has reason to stop setting his neighborhood ablaze and vows to change his ways, Julio's employers threaten his life -- and the lives of those close to him. Maritza, meanwhile, has become the pastor of a progressive Pentecostal church -- the perfect cover for the scam she's running. For the right price, she'll make anyone an American citizen.

With a cast of characters as colorful as the city itself, Ernesto Quiñonez brings to life a landscape we can all recognize.

Review Quotes

"Ernesto Quinonez so vividly captures Spanish Harlem that Chango's Fire could be called the Great (Latin) American Novel." - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"It is a cultural criticism and self-analysis that catapults this novel beyond entertainment or today's politics. Readers arrive at a bold new place, and a new way of thinking by the end of Chango's Fire. That's the definition of a book that matters." - El Paso Times