In Conversation: On The Taste of Sugar

In Marisel Vera‘s The Taste of Sugar, a young Puerto Rican couple, their farm struggling in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and the San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899, is lured to the sugar plantations of Hawaii, only to discover the hollowness of America’s promises. Praised by Kirkus as “a sprawling family epic that stretches from the mountains of Puerto Rico to Hawaii and across decades of love, famine, and war,”  Vera’s second novel is a “sweeping, emotional tale that puts her characters, and her readers, through an emotional wringer.” She is joined by Washington Post book critic Ron Charles.