The Cemetery of Untold Stories is the newest novel by Julia Alvarez. There are some parallels here between Alma, the protagonist and Alvarez herself. A Dominican writer and teacher retires and sells her house in her small New England town and moves back to the DR after inheriting a piece of unwanted land left to her by her family. Her three sisters think she’s lost her mind when she decides to live there and build a cemetery for her unfinished books so her characters might finally find peace and hopefully she can too.

Alvarez’s storytelling is on full display here as we hear the voices of all the stories left untold. I found it to be a beautifully written and imaginative read, full of historically true moments mixed in with fiction and magic surrealism. My favorite kind of novel by one of my favorite authors. A worthwhile read.