Zoraida Córdova's The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina is a gorgeous work of magical realism that follows the Ecuadoran and Ecuadoran-American Montoya family on a spellbinding journey as they fight for their home and their future against dangers from an obscured past.
Orquídea Divina, bruja matriarch of the Montoya family, has outlived several husbands, built an unusually productive farmstead and raised a large family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The novel begins as she summons the entire family back to Four Rivers to "collect" as she prepares for death, with short cinematic chapters following various family members as they receive invitations. The author juxtaposes scenes from Orquídea's early life with present-day events; most notably, at the beginning, Orquídea is in one chapter a half-feral girl fishing in Ecuador and the next an aged woman becoming a tree as her family surrounds her.
Córdova (Incendiary) adeptly depicts this large family, but focuses on three of Orquídea's grandchildren so that readers are quickly caught up in their struggles and dreams. Following the family gathering, Marimar stays on to take over the farm, and Rey returns to New York City to resume his life's dream of painting. Tatinelly, the "ordinary" cousin, is settled with a husband and daughter, completely normal as far as anyone can tell. And if unusual things happen to all three of them--like those flowers growing from their skin--well, that's just their inheritance from Orquídea.
But life for the Montoya family has never been simple, and seven years after the family disperses, people start dying and a mysterious, menacing figure appears to each of the three cousins. Desperate for answers, they reunite and travel to where it all started--Orquídea's first home in Ecuador. As the cousins unearth long-buried secrets and connect with their ancestors, Córdova gives readers Orquídea's experience of the events that would shape her life and that of the Montoya family for decades to come.
"You have to focus all of your energy on that connection every family has. It's in our bones, our blood. More than that, it's in the questions we need answered. The secrets, traumas, and legacies that we don't know we've inherited, even if we don't want them."
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina is a magical story with complex characters, masterful plotting and a sprawling family encompassing a range of Latinx experiences. Readers will be captivated. --Suzanne Krohn, editor, Love in Panels
Shelf Talker: Readers will eagerly follow the fiercely devoted Montoya cousins as they trace their witchy grandmother's past to preserve their future.