🌟 “This delightful and meaningful read offers young readers a powerful glimpse into cultural identity, family bonds, and the power of music to bring communal joy and connect to one’s heritage.”—- starred review from Booklist!

🌟 “Cruz’s lyrical and heartfelt words and Batista’s warm and emotive illustrations truly encapsulate intergenerational and transnational connections... Cruz’s clever and consistent use of the onomatopoeic sounds of la güira and Batista’s depiction of Angélica’s hand movement across the book will have readers wanting to feel the power of la güira. VERDICT: With countless uses and a resonant story, purchase this for all picture book collections. —Starred review from School Library Journal

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“Will have you LAUGHING line after line...Cruz AIMS FOR THE HEART, and fires.” ―Los Angeles Times

“Taut and poignant…Luckily for us, Cara is an oversharer…drawing us in with her magnetic storytelling and breezy self-confidence…In projecting Cara’s voice, Cruz prioritizes the importance of seeing an individual’s humanity even within the most impersonal of systems…Like the novel itself, Cara resists classification. More than a job, or a cure, she requires a patient audience with whom she can share her most intimate secrets.”
―The New York Times Book Review (cover review)

Finalist, 2024 Neustadt International Prize for Literature
Shortlisted, The Aspen Words Literary Prize,
Winner, Gold Medal, Latino Book Award/The Isabel Allende Most Inspirational Book Award,
Shereads Literary Book Award
Longlisted, Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize
Shortlisted, Goodreads Choice Awards
The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2022
The Washington Post 50 Notable Works of Fiction
Amazon, Best Books of 2022

Write this down: Cara Romero wants to work.

Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life. Over the course of twelve sessions, Cara recounts her tempestuous love affairs, her alternately biting and loving relationships with her neighbor Lulu and her sister Angela, her struggles with debt, gentrification and loss, and, eventually, what really happened between her and her estranged son, Fernando. As Cara confronts her darkest secrets and regrets, we see a woman buffeted by life but still full of fight.

Structurally inventive and emotionally kaleidoscopic, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is Angie Cruz’s most ambitious and moving novel yet, and Cara is a heroine for the ages.

Cara Romero’s playlist

Reading Group Guide

"Enthralling... Ana’s growth and gradually blooming wisdom is described with a raw, expressive voice. Cruz’s winning novel will linger in the reader’s mind long after the close of the story." Publishers Weekly

Shortlisted, Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020
YALSA Alex Award Winner
RUSA Notable Book
Longlisted, Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction
Longlisted, Aspen Words Literary Prize

Dominicana is the GMA Cover to Cover Book pick for October 2019 and the inaugural selection for Uptown Reads, a program by Word Up Community Bookshop in partnership with organizations across Uptown NYC.

Listen to the Dominicana, playlist

Follow and submit photos to @dominicanasnyc digital archive of Dominicanas in NYC from the 1950s-1990s

Reading Group Guide for Book Clubs

GMA Book Club Features’ Ana’s recipes—Pastelitos

Praise for Dominicana:

“I have been eagerly waiting for a new book from Angie Cruz. So glad the time has come.” —Edwidge Danticat, author of Brother I’m Dying and Breath, Eyes, Memory

“Gorgeous writing, gorgeous story.” —Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

“An essential read for our times.” —Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban

“Dominicana is beautiful, engaging, and cuts right to the heart of what it is to be a dutiful young female from a poor country who is bright in every sense of the word, full of love and hope.”—Mary Gaitskill, author of The Mare and Veronica

“From the very first sentence of Dominicana, we remember why we’ve missed Cruz. This coming-of-age novel with its unforgettable young heroine takes on the pressing questions of the day—immigration, identity, the claim to Americanness—with a deceptively light touch and a whole lot of charm.” —Ayana Mathis, author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

“Cruz is a hero, a heartbreaker, and a visionary. Dominicana is a thrilling, necessary portrait of what it means to be an immigrant in America.” —Patricia Engel, author of The Veins of The Ocean and Vida

 “This story feels so right for this moment. Cruz captures the texture and tenor of being an immigrant woman, caught between worlds and loyalties.”—Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of The Butterflies

“An important novel that illuminates a world and time with truth and originality. Cruz is a brilliant novelist and her characters are unforgettable.” —Jennifer Clement, author of Gun Love and President of PEN International

“Cruz shows how a moment in one country can reverberate for years in another. Dominicana is a fearless novel, laying bare the bewildering decisions made and revisited throughout the uncertain process of immigration and long after it ends.” —Idra Novey, author of Those Who Knew

Praise for Let It Rain Coffee:

‘Reminiscent of García Márquez (like the vivid, semimagical scene in which Chan puts on a dead man's suit, walks into the dictator Trujillo's office and steals a letter opener) reveal Cruz's own distinctive narrative gifts.’-- New York Times, June 26, 2005

‘Angie Cruz's "Let It Rain Coffee" is a stunning sweep of history, memory and fantasy that demonstrates a talent unmatched by any other young writer. With such a sharp ear for voice and a knack for characterization, Cruz is on the cusp of master storytelling.’ El Paso Times, Nov. 6, 2005

‘Cruz's unvarnished, sympathetic account of immigrant struggles suggests she is a writer worth watching.’ --Publishers weekly, March 7, 2005

‘She demonstrates enormous affection for her characters without sentimentalizing their naivete or ignorance. A powerful, affecting second effort.’-- Kirkus Reviews, February 2005

‘She is a writer of grace and true grit, an uncommon and laudable combination of gifts.’--St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 2005

‘It isn’t just that Cruz is spot-on with the details of immigrant, working class New York, it is also that she gets it just right from so many perspectives. Cruz beautifully articulates each character’s feelings towards their exile.’ --Bust Magazine , August 2005

Praise for Soledad:

‘Tinted with the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cruz's first novel is that of man and woman, selective amnesia and persistent memories, redemption and survival.’ -- Katori Hall, The Boston Globe: Sept. 7, 2001

‘A vivid, breathing cityscape teeming with raw beauty, danger and magic . . . Cruz shows much promise as a writer.’ --Dodie Bellamy, San Francisco Chronicle: August, 26, 2001

‘The notion of homecoming--and its attendant problems and virtues—resonates poetically through the pages of Soledad.’ —Jabari Asim, The Washington Post: August 28, 2001

‘Nobody's ever really given us such a revealing look at New York's Dominican population before.…Cruz, in this determinedly real yet often magical novel, offers canny insights into family life.’ —Mark Rozzo, Los Angeles Times

“A touching and humorous celebration of individual identity and cultural connection. Cruz combines passion and wit, features captivating characters and a story readers will love.” Heart and Soul Magazine, August 2001.

“A stunning debut novel, “ Honey Magazine, July 2001

‘Angie Cruz is the real thing. She writes with a rare combination of fierce passion and tender compassion for her unforgettable world.’ --Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban.

‘Like SOLEDAD’s beautiful troubled protagonist Angie Cruz is a revelation. She writes with confidence and compassion. She cleaves through the evasions and silences that obscure so much of what we call the ‘immigrant experience.’ -- Junot Díaz, author of Drown.

‘In Soledad, Cruz has created images and characters that leap off the page and burn in the memory.’ — Shay Youngblood, author of Black Girl in Paris and Soul Kiss