Synopsis: A mother’s love is the oldest curse
Fortuna Miércoles has finally moved her family to a better neighborhood across the Rio Grande, desperate to outrun the curse that’s stalked her bloodline since her greatest grandmother crossed the desert with a cactus thorn splitting her throat. But burying a family’s violent legacy isn’t so easy. Twenty years ago, girls and women vanished into the Albuquerque night, their bones later unearthed on the mesa. The so-called Reaper was never caught. Now, beneath the dormant volcanoes called the Sleeping Sisters, the killings have begun again.
Detective Jeanette Palacio has spent decades chasing the ghosts of her murdered cousins—alongside the memory of the other women she couldn’t avenge. When a new body turns up in Fortuna’s backyard, both women are pulled into a dangerous, ancient plot. Are the Sleeping Sisters awakening—or has someone in Fortuna’s family set a trap?
Inspired by true events and shot through with a Chicana-Indigenous reimagining of the legend of the headless woman, The Sleeping Sisters is a fevered, feral hymn to motherhood and the monstrous bargains we make to protect those we love.
My review: Keeping it simple and giving this 5 stars. I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this book. It was beautiful and tragic. This is true magical realism and some of the elements made me stop and think. Like is this really happening? Adding to the whole, both narrators were extremely unreliable, I loved the mental notes I had to keep. Whether there was something sinister to Fortuna, and if Detective Jeanette was compromising her case with a too close relationship.
The conclusion was very creative and I can’t say I saw all of it coming. The author did a great job balancing out the magic and true crime themes. I liked Jeanette’s drive to find her primas killer, knowing the tragic truth of missing indigenous women and girls. There were many dark themes but the symbolism with flowers and motherly love were really beautiful.
I enjoyed the New Mexico setting and folklore, mixed with a serial killer, lots of secrets and meddling, it had good pacing throughout. I liked the audiobook narration by EJ Lavery, somehow I could tell how she switched up the voices for both women. It was uncanny. Great delivery and pronunciation.
Title: The Sleeping Sisters
Author: Jennifer Givhan
Genre: Horror, Mystery Thriller, Magical Realism
Rating: 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
