The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez
A late-career magical realist gem from a literary titan, somehow never before published in the UK, arrives at Charco Press
It’s hard to believe that Julia Alvarez’s work is only now being published in the UK, with the arrival of her seventh novel The Cemetery of Untold Stories. Dominican-American writer Alma Cruz returns to her homeland, in the twilight of a glittering literary career, to physically bury her unfinished stories under a small plot of land, lest she be consumed by them.
Soon, the whole barrio is awash with chismes, gossip, about the peculiar project. Will there be work for the townspeople? Or ghosts rising up from the graves? Adding to the locals’ bemusement is Alma’s choice to employ the town mute, Filomena, who gains repeated entry to the property by relaying her life stories. Her job entails picking a grave every day and listening to the tales buried beneath. Disembodied voices vie for her attention, which is split between this new job and phone calls from those she has left behind.
The novel is a rich addition to the magical realist canon, a genre deeply entwined with Hispanic literary history and one Alvarez has previously visited. For the reader, its fabulistic qualities soften its most horrifying events – exploitation, murder, abandonment – while for the characters, it is perhaps the harshness of their reality that makes them so ready to accept the fantastic. As if in acknowledgement that if the world can be so cruel, then it can also perform miracles.