Three starred reviews!

From award-winning author Margarita Engle comes a spellbinding (Publishers Weekly, starred review) novel in verse about first love, hidden cultures, and ancestral connections that follows a teens journey to uncover her late grandmothers roots in Cuba.

Just before she was transformed

into an invisible spirit

my grandmother whispered her last wishes

into my ear:

Sprinkle my ashes in a patch of girasoles,

wait patiently, harvest the seeds,

fly to la isla, find el jardn,

plant las semillas.

Then and only then

read my diaries.

Evamar has arrived in Cuba with her abuelas ashes and her mothers warnings: Dont talk politics, boil the tap water before you drink, y por favor absolutamente, dont fall in love. But then she meets Ro, a captivating drummer whose music and presence she cant ignore.

Ro bears his own scars, separated from his family in the United States. As their bond deepens, Evamar discovers an ancestral treasure that could change her futureand the lives of millions of Caribbeans.