Olga Dies Dreaming

Times New York Bestseller

"This new author is not to be taken lightly. She's kicking off the year with a clever romantic comedy that makes us laugh and holds our attention with a really captivating plot." — The Post in Washington

Following Hurricane Maria, a brilliant talent makes her debut telling the story of a status-driven wedding planner who struggles with her social aspirations, mother's absence, and Puerto Rican heritage.

In the year 2017, Olga and her brother Pedro "Prieto" Acevedo are well-known figures in their own New York. Prieto is a well-liked congressman who represents his Brooklyn Latinx neighborhood, which is gentrifying, and Olga is the sophisticated wedding planner for Manhattan's powerful people.

Even though they lead glamorous lives in public, conditions are far less ideal in private. Olga can certainly arrange the 1 percent's love stories, but she can't seem to find her own until she meets Matteo, who makes her face the consequences of long-kept family secrets.

Blanca, the radicalized Young Lord who was the mother of Olga and Prieto, left her children to be reared by their grandmother as she pursued a radical political cause. Now that hurricane season is upon them, Blanca is storming back into their life.

Xochitl Gonzalez's novel Olga Dies Dreaming, which is set against the backdrop of New York City in the months leading up to the most catastrophic hurricane in Puerto Rico's history, explores political corruption, familial conflict, and the idea of the American dream—all the while posing the question of what it truly means to weather a storm.