The Waves Take You Home

DEBUT In this predictable yet delicious debut novel, 28-year-old Violeta leaves New York City, her mounting freelance illustrator jobs, and her live-in boyfriend, Liam, to return to Barranquilla, Colombia to attend her abuela’s funeral. Vi learns she has inherited the majority partnership in Caminito, her family’s Spanish Colombian restaurant. Ten years earlier, Vi’s abuela was so determined that Vi would not become involved in the restaurant business she sent Vi to college in Vermont. Magical realism takes over and Vi and her grandmother’s spirit work together to not only begin to pay off the restaurant’s debt, but also to reunite Vi with Rafa, her high school love. The novel also involves Vi’s icy relationship with her mother, who wants to sell the restaurant rather than holding on to the family’s legacy. The scrumptious part of the novel, although it offers no family recipes, is in the descriptions of the food created by Anton, the restaurant’s chef.