When the de la Cruz Family Danced
By Donna Miscolta
Meta:
Publication date: June 28, 2011
ISBN (print): 978-988-19895-9-8
eISBN: 978-988-19895-2-9
Paper edition specs:
Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 perfect bound trade paperback
Page count: 342
E-book specs:
Formats: ePub, mobi (Kindle), PDF
Word count: 95,000
Synopsis:
During his one and only return visit to the Philippines, Johnny de la Cruz—plagued
by a sense of isolation—succumbs to a quick sexual encounter with an old flame, the
attractive and beguiling Bunny Piña. Years later, nineteen-year-old Winston Piña has
barely finished eulogizing his recently deceased mother when he finds a letter she
wrote, but never sent, to Johnny. This leads Winston into the lives of the de la Cruz
family—a family to which he might or might not belong. When the de la Cruz Family
Danced explores the ties within family and how they are affected by circumstances of
birth, immigration, and assimilation.
Praise:
This extraordinary novel illustrates a family's long journey toward making peace—with
the world, with the family, and with individual selves. Miscolta is a pitch-perfect prose
stylist and a passionately empathetic creator: she savors sentence-making and attends
to the all-important nuanced moments between people. This chronicle of a family is
beautifully observed and heart-rendingly told, and these characters will linger long after
you've closed the book. I feel blessed to have met this family and made the journey with
them.
- Antonya Nelson, author of Bound
A smoothly written debut that sways between the Philippines and the U.S., between the
present and past, and between the secrets and hard truths of its compelling characters.
This is a complex story of immigration and loss that packs an emotional punch.
- Cristina Garcia, author of The Lady Matador's Hotel
When reading When the De La Cruz Family Danced, you feel like the story is already
familiar—not that it's been told before, but that its words have the flow of memory, of
having been there standing in the De La Cruz kitchen or sitting at the dinner table where
there is the nostalgic talk of family meals, of family tragedies, of the heartfelt things left
unsaid that are later recalled or written down in letter sent through the mail or watched
in a home movie. We, as readers, aren't a part of this life or this history and yet by
reading, we see ourselves just standing at the edge of the frame in a De La Cruz family
portrait. We're family.
- Shawn Wong, author of American Knees
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