A blazing new talent debuts with the story of a status-driven wedding planner grappling with her absent mother, her glittering career amongst New York’s elite and her Puerto Rican roots in the wake of Hurricane Maria
It’s 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo, are bold-faced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn, while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s powerbrokers.
Despite their alluring public lives, behind closed doors things are far less rosy. Sure, Olga can orchestrate the love stories of the one percent, but she can’t seem to find her own—until she meets Matteo, who forces her to confront the effects of long held family secrets.
Twenty-seven years ago, their mother Blanca, a Young Lord-turned-radical, abandoned her children to advance a militant political cause, leaving them to be raised by their grandmother. Now, with the winds of hurricane season, Blanca has come barreling back into their lives.
Set against the backdrop of New York City in the months surrounding the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico’s history, Olga Dies Dreaming is a story that examines political corruption, familial strife, and the very notion of the American Dream—all while asking what it really means to weather a storm.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books
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"All three narrators are Puerto Rican–born and deliver the Spanish passages with musical grace, thereby enhancing an already fine novel.”
— Washington Post (audio review)
“Gonzalez delivers a healthy dose of tough love with her buzzy debut Olga Dies Dreaming.”
— Time“Hilarious…A sprawling dramedy of love, politics, blackmail and real estate featuring a Puerto Rican family in Brooklyn."
— People"Atmospheric, intelligent, and well informed: an impressive debut."
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Gonzalez elevates this family drama with a great deal of insight on the characters’ diaspora and politics."
— Publishers WeeklyBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Xochitl Gonzalez received her MFA degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow and the recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship for Fiction. Olga Dies Dreaming is her debut novel. Prior to writing, she wore many hats, including entrepreneur, wedding planner, fundraiser, and tarot-card reader. She is a proud alumna of the New York City Public School system and holds a BA degree in art history and visual art from Brown University.
Almarie Guerra is an actor known for her work on Sorry You’re Sad, Dude Bro Party Massacre III, and Night of the Living Deb. She is part of an LA/NY based improv group, the Story Pirates.