Mayra // A Novel

A twisty gothic debut about two former best friends reconnecting at a secluded house deep in the swamplands of Florida.

Its been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra, a fearless rebel who fled their hometown of Hialeah, a Cuban neighborhood just west of Miami, for college in the Northeast. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend getaway at a house in the Everglades, she impulsively accepts.

From the moment Ingrid sets out for the house, danger looms: The directions are difficult, shes out of reach of cell service, and as she drives deeper into the Everglades, the wet maw of the swamp threatens to swallow her whole. But once Ingrid arrives, Mayra is, in many ways, just as she rememberswith her sharp tongue and effortless, seductive beauty, still thumbing her nose at the world.

Before they can fully settle into the familiar intimacy of each others company, their reunion is spoiled by the reemergence of past disagreements and the unexpected presence of Mayras new boyfriend, Benji. The trio spend their hours eating lavish meals and exploring the labyrinthine house, which holds as much mystery and danger as the swamp itself. Indoors and on the grounds, time itself seems to expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself.

Against this disquieting setting, where lizards dart in and out of porches and alligators peek up from dark waters, Gonzalez weaves a propulsive, unforgettable story about the dizzying power of early friendship and the lengths well go to earn love and acceptanceeven at the risk of losing ourselves entirely.

Nicky Gonzalezis a writer from Hialeah, Florida. Her fiction has appeared inMcSweeneys Quarterly Concern,BOMB Magazine, Kenyon Review Online, Taco Bell Quarterly, and other publications. She has received support from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Granum Foundation, Millay Arts, Lighthouse Works, and the Hambidge Center. She lives in Massachusetts.

• Publisher:Random House (July 22, 2025)
• Language:English
• Hardcover: 240pages
• ISBN-13:9780593731550
• Item Weight: .8 lbs
• Dimensions:5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
• BISAC Categories: Popular Fiction, Literary Fiction