The Jesuit Book Club will welcome Kirstin Valdez Quade on October 14 (4:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT) to discuss her debut short story collection Night at the Fiestas. The reading starts Sunday, September 6, and the collection will be discussed in a private Facebook group. To register for the October 14 gathering with Kirstin Valdez Quade, click here.
A bit about the book: With intensity and emotional precision, Kirstin Valdez Quade’s unforgettable stories plunge us into the fierce, troubled hearts of characters defined by the desire to escape the past or else to plumb its depths. The deadbeat father of a pregnant teenager tries to transform his life by playing the role of Jesus in a bloody penitential Passion. A young man discovers that his estranged father and a boa constrictor have been squatting in his grandmother’s empty house. A lonely retiree new to Santa Fe becomes obsessed with her housekeeper. One girl attempts to uncover the mystery of her cousin’s violent past, while another young woman finds herself at an impasse when she is asked to hear her priest’s confession.
Always hopeful, these stories chart the passions and obligations of family life, exploring themes of race, class, and coming-of-age, as Quade’s characters protect, betray, wound, undermine, bolster, define, and, ultimately, save each other.
Submitted by: Sarah Signorino, director, Mission & Identity
