NHCC Book Club: Malas by Marcela Fuentes

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 6:00 pm The NHCC invites lovers of literature, folks who love to read, and those who enjoy talking about the history and the vast array of identities that contribute to Latinidad/Hispanidad to join us! We will meet on the fourth Wednesday of every month in the Center’s HLA Conference Room. For the month of February 2026, the NHCC Book Club will be featuring Malas by Marcela Fuentes. PLEASE MAKE YOUR RESERVATION HERE! A story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations–“Fuentes has achieved something rare and indelible with this story of complex women.” (Erika L. Sánchez) In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguierre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family. More than forty years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father’s moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives on the alone and shunned on the edge of town. Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past. As the quinceañera looms—and we move between these two strong, irascible female voices—one woman must make peace with the past, and one girl pushes to embrace her future. Rich with cinematic details—from dusty rodeos to the excitement of a Selena concert and the comfort of conjunto ballads played at family gatherings—this memorable debut is a love letter to the Tejano culture and community that sustain both of these women as they discover what family means. (Goodreads). This book is available at the NM State Library: 1 ebook, 1 audiobook; the Albuquerque Public Library: 1 audio on Libby, 1 Kindle, 2 hardbacks, 5 Large Type, 2 in Spanish. This is a free community event. Please let us know who will be attending by registering below. PLEASE MAKE YOUR RESERVATION HERE!