MORE TO THE STORY NEWSLETTER

Olga Dies Dreaming

Published by TIME
April 1, 2022

Xochitl Gonzalez’s debut novel Olga Dies Dreaming, filled with complex characters, vibrant language, and an ambitious plot, is a witty page-turner that’s impossible to put down. Gonzalez immerses readers into New York’s Puerto Rican diaspora, following the lives of Olga, a wedding planner for Manhattan’s elite, and her brother Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo, a congressman representing a fast disappearing Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn, as they are forced navigate the woes of gentrification, colonial exploitation, corruption, radicalism, and love. Despite the allure of their public image, the sibling’s private lives are far from perfect, only further complicated when their absentee mother, Blanca, a Young Lord-turned-radical, comes barreling back into their lives decades after she disappeared. With a HULU pilot in the works, Olga Dies Dreaming is a story you don't want to skip. —Jenna Caldwell