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This Is the Only Kingdom

A Novel

Coming Soon

Contributors

By Jaquira Díaz

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$28.00

Price

$37.00 CAD

From the Whiting Award-winning author Jaquira Diazan epic novel of a mother and daughter wrestling with the aftermath of a murder, set against the backdrop of a tightknit, working-class barrio in Puerto Rico.
 
When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserío, Puerto Rico – beyond cleaning houses, beyond waiting tables, beyond the constant tug of war between the street hustlers and los camarones. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined, and she soon finds herself struggling to make a home for herself, for Rey, his young brother Tito, and eventually, their daughter Nena. Until one fateful day changes everything.
 
Fifteen years later, Maricarmen and Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming. For lovers of the Neapolitan novels, This is the Only Kingdom is an immersive and moving portrait of a family – and a community – torn apart by generational griefand a powerful love letter to mothers, daughters, and the barrios that make them. 

  • “This is an extraordinary debut! Jaquira Díaz delivers a haunting meditation around the painful bonds of family and immerses readers in a world where the echoes of the past shape the future in devastating ways. A poignant, mesmerizing read that cements Díaz as a writer to be reckoned with.”
    Angie Cruz, author of How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
  • “With stirring prose and an unflinching gaze, Jaquira Díaz viscerally renders one family’s origin story against the backdrop of Miami and Puerto Rico of the recent past— familiar to some, forgotten to many. This is The Only Kingdom is a look into dark social truths that one woman must face as a young matriarch, fighting for her family’s survival. Yet Díaz offers up no tragedy here, but a light through her daughter, who conjures up not just a fierce will to survive, but to thrive— as her fullest and whole self— reminding us that this life must be worth living to its fullest and truest.”
     
    Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Olga Dies Dreaming
  • Named a Most Recommended Book of the Year by Electric Literature
  • Praise for Ordinary Girls
    “[Ordinary Girls] belongs on your must-read lists. Díaz is a masterful writer . . . Writing with refreshing honesty, she talks about despair, depression, love, and hope with such vibrancy that her vivid portrayal will stay with you long after the final page.”
    B>O: The Oprah Magazine

    “A skilled writer, Díaz is meticulous in her craft, and on page after page her writing truly sings . . . This brutally honest coming-of-age story is a painful yet illuminating memoir, a testament to resilience.”
    I>New York Times Book Review
     
    “Incredible . . .  Beautiful . . . Gorgeous and propulsive prose.”
    —NBC / Today (Isaac Fitzgerald) 

    “Outstanding. A powerful and lyrical coming-of-age story, Ordinary Girls is a candid illustration of shame, despair and violence as well as joy and triumph. Against a Puerto Rican backdrop, this debut is compassionate, brave and forgiving.”
     
    Ms. Magazine

On Sale
Oct 21, 2025
Page Count
336 pages
Publisher
Algonquin Books
ISBN-13
9781616209148

Jaquira Díaz

Jaquira Díaz

About the Author

Born in Puerto Rico, Jaquira Díaz was raised between Humacao, Fajardo, and Miami Beach. She is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, winner of a Whiting Award, a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, a Lambda Literary Awards finalist, an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce Selection, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, an Indie Next Pick, a Library Reads pick, and finalist for the B&N Discover Prize. 

The recipient of the Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction, the Alonzo Davis Fellowship from VCCA, two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from MacDowell, the Kenyon Review, Bread Loaf, Sewanee, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV, Díaz has written for The AtlanticThe GuardianTime MagazineT: The New York Times Style MagazineCondé Nast Traveler, and The Fader, and her stories, poems, and essays have been anthologized in The Best American Essays, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, Best American Experimental Writing, and The Pushcart Prize anthology. In 2022, she held the Mina Hohenberg Darden Chair in Creative Writing at Old Dominion University’s MFA program and a Pabst Endowed Chair for Master Writers at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She lives in New York with her spouse, the writer Lars Horn, and teaches at Columbia University.
 

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