River Woman, River Demon
Book Feature - River Woman, River Demon by Jennifer Givhan
HBL Note: From award-winning Mexican-American and Indigenous author, Jennifer Givhan, comes a psychological thriller with themes of cultural empowerment and claiming your unique voice. It has a bit of mystery and a bit of folk magick woven in as well. RIVER WOMAN, RIVEN DEMON is about a budding Chicana artist whose husband is arrested for the murder of a friend. What actually happened that night on the river? Scroll down to read more.
"In River Woman, River Demon, Givhan writes: 'For us folks of color, conjuring isn't entertainment; it's the brass key pointing us to freedom.' And with this novel Givhan wholly embodies this thesis, manifesting a richly textured exploration of personal pain, trauma, and loss, while capturing that slippery dreamlike beyond that people of color feel in our bones. River Woman, River Demon is a major working, a novel both visceral and revelatory." --Cadwell Turnbull, award-winning author of No Gods, No Monsters
From the publisher:
Eva Santos Moon is a burgeoning Chicana artist who practices the ancient, spiritual ways of brujería and curanderisma, but she's at one of her lowest points--suffering from disorienting blackouts, creative stagnation, and a feeling of disconnect from her magickal roots. When her husband, a beloved university professor and the glue that holds their family together, is taken into custody for the shocking murder of their friend, Eva doesn't know whom to trust--least of all, herself. She soon falls under suspicion as a potential suspect, and her past rises to the surface, dredging up the truth about an eerily similar death from her childhood.
Struggling with fragmented memories and self-doubt, an increasingly terrified Eva fears that she might have been involved in both murders. But why doesn't she remember? Only the dead women know for sure, and they're coming for her with a haunting vengeance. As she fights to keep her family out of danger, Eva realizes she must use her magick as a bruja to protect herself and her loved ones, while confronting her own dark history.
A psychological thriller that weaves together the threads of folk magick with personal and cultural empowerment, River Woman, River Demon is a mysterious incantation of reckoning with the past and claiming one's unique power and voice.