Eleven interconnected stories follow members of the Belén family across generations and places, including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, New Jersey, New York, and the fictional town of Hidalpa. Children and teenagers confront first heartbreak, school danger, family silence, and the complicated forms love can take. A touch of magic moves through stories about identity divided across countries, mental health, inherited machismo, and nostalgia for homes that characters remember, leave, or have never fully known.
Print · Levine Querido · 2022 · English ISBN 9781646141296
Audiobook · Recorded Books, Inc. · 2022-05-20 · English ISBN 9798212050333
eBook · Chronicle Books · 2022-04-12 · English ISBN 9781646141548
The Free Library presents an author event with Gomera-Tavarez.
More About Camille Gomera-Tavarez
Camille Gomera-Tavarez is an Afro-Dominican writer, designer, and creative from New Jersey. Her writing joins that creative background with stories about Dominican families, communities, and experiences across a diaspora.
Her debut, High Spirits, is a collection of eleven interconnected stories about the Dominican diaspora. The collection follows families and communities across related narratives rather than presenting a single continuous plot.
High Spirits was published in 2022 and received a Pura Belpré Author Honor in 2023. The honor recognized Gomera-Tavarez's first book and its linked portrayal of Dominican lives across the collection's stories.
