Mayra - by Nicky Gonzalez (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An eerie, hypnotic debut about friendship, desire, and memory set against the sultry backdrop of Florida's swamplands.

"A mesmerizing, hallucinatory adrenaline rush of a novel."--Claire Luchette, author of Agatha of Little Neon

LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

It's been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra, a fearless rebel who fled their hometown of Hialeah, a Cuban neighborhood just west of Miami, for college in the Northeast. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend getaway at a house in the Everglades, she impulsively accepts.

From the moment Ingrid sets out, danger looms: The directions are difficult, she's out of reach of cell service, and as she drives deeper into the Everglades, the wet maw of the swamp threatens to swallow her whole. But once Ingrid arrives, Mayra is, in many ways, just as she remembers--with her sharp tongue and effortless, seductive beauty, still thumbing her nose at the world.

Before they can fully settle into the familiar intimacy of each other's company, their reunion is spoiled by the reemergence of past disagreements and the unexpected presence of Mayra's new boyfriend, Benji. The trio spend their hours eating lavish meals and exploring the labyrinthine house, which holds as much mystery as the swamp itself. Indoors and on the grounds, time itself seems to expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself.

Against this disquieting setting, where lizards dart in and out of porches and alligators peek from dark waters, Gonzalez weaves a surreal, unforgettable story about the dizzying power of early friendship and the lengths we'll go to earn love and acceptance--even at the risk of losing ourselves entirely.

Review Quotes

"Ingrid and her charismatic childhood friend Mayra--described as 'a kind of wild animal'--are planning a reunion. . . . Settle in for swamp flora that encroaches claustrophobically, 'intestinal' green snakes, and plenty of long-simmering antagonism between the two leads."--Vulture

"Each page will haunt you."--Debutiful

"A haunting hallucination . . . Mayra has shades of the Southern gothic, but ultimately crafts its own uniquely Florida gothic. This fan of Shirley Jackson devoured this."--The Southern Bookseller Review

"I ate this greedily; I swallowed it whole. Beguiling and moody and strange, Mayra shimmers with supernatural eeriness and the mercuriality of memory. Nicky Gonzalez unspools all the disorienting, lonely-making work of getting unstuck and finding home and bliss--then, she terrifies you. This is a mesmerizing, hallucinatory adrenaline rush of a novel."--Claire Luchette, author of Agatha of Little Neon

"Nicky Gonzalez channels Shirley Jackson (something I do not say lightly) in this disquieting, mesmerizing twenty-first-century Southern Gothic. In Mayra, the hazy borders of friendship and identity are blurred, made uncanny and dangerous, and I was hooked from paragraph one."--Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts

"In prose as luscious as the ribs at our beloved Flanigan's, the story that unfolds between Mayra and Ingrid lovingly embodies the vibrant beauty of Hialeah and the Florida Everglades. Mayra is a haunting testament to the literal terror of being consumed by the very thing you're trying to escape."--Jennine Capó Crucet, author of Say Hello to My Little Friend

"Eerie, haunting, and gorgeously written, Mayra is a powerful story of memory, home, and the friendships that make us. I was entranced by its luscious dreamworld of secret doors, traps, wonders, and the uncanny. Gonzalez is a master of tension, tenuous lines, and complicated love."--Ananda Lima, author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil

"Gorgeous and hypnotic, surreal and unsettling, Mayra is part coming-of-age story, part Twilight Zone episode, part thoughtful meditation on all of the ways that memory is itself a haunted house. I loved this book."--Karen Thompson Walker, New York Times bestselling author of The Strange Case of Jane O.

"This debut examines the ways people can either find or lose themselves in intense friendships . . . this slow-burn novel will have readers on the edge of their seats by the end. Recommend to fans of Stephen King's Duma Key, David Mitchell's Slade House, or Bunny by Mona Awad."--Booklist

"A ghost from her past brings a woman to a peculiar, isolated Everglades mansion--and to the brink of delirium--in this ominous and compulsively readable gothic debut. . . . A brilliantly rendered fever dream from which readers won't want to wake . . . this mesmerizing and luscious trip is perfect for fans of Rachel Harrison and Silvia Moreno-Garcia."--Library Journal

About the Author

Nicky Gonzalez is a writer from Hialeah, Florida. Her fiction has appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, BOMB, The Kenyon Review, Taco Bell Quarterly, and other publications. She has received support from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Granum Foundation, Millay Arts, Lighthouse Works, and the Hambidge Center. She lives in Massachusetts.