Santiago Jose Sanchez recommends
Pretend You're Dead and I Carry You (2026)
Julián Delgado Lopera
"A majestic and otherworldly novel of first love, longing for family and escape, and the struggle to release the ghosts we carry. . . . This novel is a torrential downpour that will leave you trembling toward your own freedom."
The Sunflower Boys (2025)
Sam Wachman
"The Sunflower Boys invites us into the gentle rhythms of childhood through the eyes of Artem - picking sunflowers, swimming in rivers, navigating the first stirrings of love - crafting an enchanting and luminous portrait of boyhood in Ukraine. Then, without warning, the world shatters. As the Russian invasion tears through their homeland, Artem - whose thoughts and dreams we've come to know with piercing intimacy - must protect his brother Yuri from the unimaginable destruction. With extraordinary precision, Wachman traces the brothers' harrowing journey across a ravaged country to reunite with their father, capturing both the unspeakable horrors of war and the inextinguishable spirit of the Ukrainian people. The Sunflower Boys is a devastating reminder of how quickly peace can unravel - and a powerful affirmation of what remains when survival transforms us into people we never imagined. Sam Wachman has a talent beyond his years."
