Synopsis
In this heartfelt story about how the places we run from hold the answers to our deepest challenges, the death of her grandmother brings a young woman home, where she must face the past in order to become the heir of not just the family restaurant, but her own destiny.
Violeta Sanoguera had always done what she was told. She left the man she loved in Colombia in pursuit of a better life for herself and because her mother and grandmother didn’t approve of him. Chasing dreams of education and art in New York City, and with a new love, twenty-eight-year-old Violeta establishes a new life for herself, on her terms. But when her grandmother suddenly dies, everything changes.
After years of being on her own in NYC, Violeta finds herself on a plane back to Colombia, accompanied at all times by the ghost of her grandmother who is sending her messages and signs, to find she is the heir of the failing family restaurant, the very one Abuela told her to run from in the first place. The journey leads her to rediscover her home, her grandmother, and even the flame of an old love.
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Praise
“From the moment Vi stepped off the plane in Barranquilla, I felt as if I had come along for the journey. The wonderful descriptions of the town, its people, and Caminito’s traditional Colombian dishes made me wish I was visiting for real. I especially enjoyed the supernatural element to this emotional story about going back home to discover who you were always meant to be.” ―Annette Chavez Macias, bestselling author of Big Chicas Don’t Cry
“The Waves Take You Home is a tender, generous novel that sings with the rhythms of family, food, and love. A warm and wise meditation on the ghosts of lives unlived that challenges familiar immigrant narratives and resounds with the voices of three unforgettable women. María Alejandra Barrios Vélez conjured a world I didn’t want to leave.” ―Katie Gutierrez, national bestselling author of More Than You’ll Ever Know
“It’s hard to put down an international love triangle, especially one featuring ghosts and a quest to save a family’s legacy set along the Caribbean coast! Every page in The Waves Take You Home sizzles with life and lush descriptions. I grew nostalgic as I read for the sights and smells of Colombian street food and culture. It’s a love story, deeply invested in all the ways love defines us―love for family, childhood crushes, tradition, and especially a well-cooked meal.” ―Adriana E. Ramírez, author of Dead Boys, winner of the PEN Fusion Award, and author of the forthcoming novel The Violence
Interview with Maria
What inspired you to write THE WAVES TAKE YOU HOME?
In 2020, my Abuela’s health declined, as she started to lose her battle with cancer. Due to the pandemic, I couldn’t visit Colombia and say goodbye. My worst fear had happened, and I was left with immense grief. My Abuela, and her stories, were central to my life and shaped my vision of the world. For me, she represented home and although I had left Colombia, it remained in my heart.
The idea for a novel started to take shape during that year as I reflected on how my relationship to my Abuela and her memory would live on. After she died, I was left with the idea of her as a ghost. Not in the classic sense, but she remained someone with whom I constantly spoke. I would wonder what she would do or how she would react to a situation, and sometimes I could sense her by my side. I wanted this book to embody that idea, that you always carry your ancestors with you, and even if you can’t see them, they’re still rooting for you.
I also knew in my bones I wanted this book to be inspired by the stories of the women in my family, and I wanted it to be centered around my interests and what I knew. Like Toni Morrison said, I wanted to write the book I wanted to read. So, I started writing about a family of women, food, cooking, Barranquilla and New York. This is what I knew. I also wanted to write about what scared me, and the feeling that my two lives were growing farther away from each other and the repercussions of this pull. There’s an immense amount of sacrifice with the decision of choosing one life instead of the other.
Doña Emilia, Vi’s Abuela, is central to the plot of the story. What do you think is the role of the matriarch in the book?
The matriarch in many Latin American cultures is everything. She is the center of the family, the decision maker, the voice of reason and warnings, and a representation of the past; how a particular family unit has lived until now. I think Doña Emilia is the key in acknowledging what has come before for these characters (a past of heartbreak, fear, and struggle), but she is also the one who ultimately leads Vi to examine her life and her choices, and to encourage Vi not repeat the mistakes she made.
Generational trauma is another theme discussed in THE WAVES TAKE YOU HOME. Why is this theme important to address?
It’s interesting because as I get ready for the book launch, I’ve been reflecting on my writing path. I didn’t grow up writing consistently like many other writers do, and I wasn’t a good reader until I was fourteen or so. But I was always a good listener.
My Abuela would tell me stories about her life, and the life of women in our family. And these stories were always so complete in my head, like the classic tragedies: they were stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end and with one single message: that’s what you get for trusting, for being a pendeja. There are stories about us and our families that we are always listening to, and that lead us to believe things about who we are, and who we could become. It makes it seem like we’re trapped in these ideas and concepts that sometimes aren’t the right fit.
I wanted to show the stories in the Sanoguera family that they tell each other, and I wanted Vi to confront them in order to finally ask a question that we sometimes never ask: What do I think? And what do I believe to be true? And now that I know that, how will I respond?
How did you approach the magical realism in the story? What was it like creating a ghost as a character?
I grew up surrounded by ghost stories. My Abuela was my best friend, and my caretaker during the day when I was a child. She would tell me all kinds of stories, but my favorite kind would involve ghosts. She had a very matter-of-fact way of talking about ghosts, as if they existed and were just another fact of life.
The greats of magical realism Allende, Marquez, Esquivel, always approach the magical elements in the story as they are, not as something to explain or dissect. Staying true to my Abuela, and my own family history, I also didn’t want to explain it. I was more interested in the readers feeling alongside Vi. I should add that this is the way of my culture. We tell ghost stories with interest and curiosity, without worrying about convincing the audience if they are real or not.
There are so many delicious dishes featured in the book! Are these family recipes? What made you decide to include them in your debut novel?
Yes! My Abuela’s side of the family is from Spain, and one of the things that was passed down from that heritage was the food. I grew up at my Bisabuela and Abuela’s side watching them cook sopa de bolli (a velvety broth with tender rib and a side of potatoes and green beans you bathe in olive oil), coca bread (a delicious thick pizza with onions, bell peppers, paprika and plenty of spices that give it a great kick!), the classic tortilla española with french bread, and more. We also had the succulent Colombian dishes at home, and since my Bisabuela had a very prominent sweet-tooth and was an incredible baker, she also made sure we had plenty of sweet treats: poundcake, pineapple-rum upside-down cake, black cake, hot flaky dough sprinkled with sugar, a homemade flan bathed in caramel!
The love language of the women in my family was food. I wanted to incorporate that rich and proud heritage of food in the novel because I think you can tell a lot about someone’s culture and background in the spices they eat, how they approach food and cooking (do they do it in a relaxed manner? Is there pressure around it?), and the legacy that this food carries. I wanted Vi to explore the complicated relationship she had with her family through food and cooking—I also wanted to feature the delicious food I grew up eating!
A lot of the novel takes place in Barranquilla, Colombia. What is something you wish readers will take away from visiting this place?
This book is centered in a real neighborhood, “Barrio Prado,” which is an epicenter of culture and art deco architecture in Barranquilla. Walking there, you can see the beautiful big roble trees and the flowers that the florón trees spread in the streets, that smell like vanilla. Every house in that neighborhood is different and unique. I wanted to share the magic of this neighborhood, both in how it looks and through the wonderful community of people who live there. Everyone is in everyone’s business, but at the same time, everyone cares so deeply about Caminito and the Sanoguera Family. I wanted to show that side of us, while also showing the beautiful beaches and delicious food.
And the heat! I want people to feel the scorching heat that we get all year round.
About the Author
María Alejandra Barrios Vélez is a writer born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She has an MA in creative writing from the University of Manchester and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and scruffy dog, Gus.
She was the 2020 SmokeLong Flash Fiction Fellow, and her stories have been published in Shenandoah Literary, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, El Malpensante, Fractured Lit, SmokeLong Quarterly, The Offing, and more. Her work has been supported by organizations such as Vermont Studio Center, Caldera Arts, and the New Orleans Writers’ Residency.
