Isabel Cañas's THE HOUSE OF GARDENIAS - A Perfect Fall Read
by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books)
Thanks to partners NetGalley and Dutton Books for Young Readers for the digital ARC of Isabel Cañas's The House of Gardenias (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). The book is now available!
Isabel Cañas’s reliably captivating historical novels, each of which blends deep research with a fabulous, fantastical element, set my expectations high for her YA debut, The House of Gardenias, and I’m thrilled to share that I absolutely loved it. (You can check out our discussion of Cañas's Vampires of El Norte here!)
The novel centers on Minerva Treviño, a teenager whose home life is one of poverty and abuse. Her older brothers offered some comfort, but when they leave her home and she’s left with her parents and younger siblings, she knows that she needs to find a different path for herself.
Minerva runs away, seeking a job with Encarnación del Valle, a wealthy woman whose kinship with the deposed viceroy puts her under suspicion for some but also offers her a life of privilege. As Minerva learns under her mentorship, she begins to feel hopeful that she can maintain a life of security and contentment.
Then, during an uprising to bring the viceroy back to power, Encarnación decides to move back to her homeplace, Casa de las Gardenias, taking Minerva with her. Quickly, Minerva realizes that everything is going to change—she faces dangers both from Encarnación’s petty, cruel family members and from a paranormal threat that she doesn’t yet understand.
Cañas’s ability to build an amazing Gothic world atop the unrest of an unnamed South American society plagued by class warfare is astonishing. Minerva is an incredible, complex character whose motivation to look out first for herself is understandable, even while I hoped that she might make a more noble choice. Rich with vivid settings, compelling characters, and a shocking plot, The House of Gardenias would be a perfect fall read for teenagers and adults alike.
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