Queenie Rivers searches for answers after her grandmother is found dead under mysterious circumstances in the Los Angeles bungalow where she was raised. As she digs into Gran's past she discovers that Anke Rivers, a Romani Holocaust survivor, kept many secrets, some of them otherworldly--secrets that become hers to unravel.
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“Malia captures the messiness of life and our never-ending quest for where we fit, all while sprinkling in a magical vibe that’s impossible to resist and creating a gem in the process. I was hooked from page one until the end—it’s like the book whispered, ‘You’re in for something amazing’. City of Smoke and Sea is not just a story. It’s an experience, one that stayed with me, making me think and feel long after I turned the last page.”
–Oksana Marafioti, author of American Gypsy
“A beautifully-written invitation to unseen worlds and a story of personal reinvention that honors the mythically rich complexity of Los Angeles.”
– Andromeda Romano-Lax, author of The Deepest Lake and Annie and the Wolves
“A beautifully written, heartfelt novel that explores what it means to lose and find oneself through grief. As a woman struggles to solve the murder of her beloved grandmother, the shocking truth she discovers about her family’s history upends her world and leaves her questioning the very fabric of her existence. Both wondrous with mythology and rich with insight, Márquez weaves together a fabulist tapestry of belonging and family that’s absolute magic on the page.”
—Carolyne Topdjian, author of The Hitman’s Daughter
City of Smoke and Sea is part mystery, part magical, and completely captivating. Malia Márquez weaves an enchanting modern-day fable set in 21st century Los Angeles. Strange, layered, and wonderful.
–Karen Winn, author of Our Little World
A multicultural saga, This Fierce Blood follows three generations of women in the American Southwest and New England.
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“This Fierce Blood is a gorgeous and ecologically tender generational odyssey. The rebellious, loving, and brilliant Sylte women at the heart of this magical debut novel offer us a vision of what is possible when we consider both the power of our familial bonds and a natural world beyond the human. Malia Márquez has given us a spellbinding novel that remembers and fiercely reclaims our shared histories.”
–Michael Zapata, author of The Lost Book of Adana Moreau
“This Fierce Blood traverses time, culture, and distance with gorgeous, sure-footed prose and a compelling cast of characters. By showing us all that separates these generations of Sylte women, Márquez deftly guides us toward what binds them. A wholehearted debut with a whisper of magic and deep, twisting roots in the natural world.”
–Lily Brooks-Dalton, author of The Light Pirate and Good Morning, Midnight
“Passion, faith, identity, trauma, love, and loyalty… through the interwoven stories of three women spanning generations, Malia Márquez dramatizes these urgent-as-ever themes. Taken individually, the stories of Wilhelmina, Josepa, and Magdalena are equally gripping. But like voices in a chorus, united in the sublime oratorio that is This Fierce Blood, their tales strike chords, harmonies, and syncopations greater than the sum of their distinct parts. Márquez has written a singular and passionate first novel.”
–Peter Selgin, author of The Inventors and Duplicity
"This Fierce Blood is a wonder of a novel—at once epic and intimate, all of it deeply alive. Malia Márquez writes with compassion and precision, writes, to borrow words from these pages, “Like a song. Or a spell.” I’m grateful to have been pulled into the magic of this book, grateful for my time with its generations of unforgettable, wild-hearted women."
–Gayle Brandeis, author of Drawing Breath: Essays on Writing, the Body, and Loss and The Book of Dead Birds
“All revolves around the women, who are complex and conflicted. They want to do what is right for their children, their homes, and themselves, but often, these goals are at odds with each other in the eyes of society—in 1891, 1918, and in the present. The lush novel This Fierce Blood shows the power of strong women staying true to themselves.”
— Foreword Reviews
" This Fierce Blood is compelling and beautiful. It is a multigenerational saga that captures the beauty, difficulty, and importance of merging and growing cultures. It clashes and it mends relationships across generations and cultures in a thoughtful and lovely way. It’s absolutely stunning."
– Bookish Brews