Cañas' debut evokes the socioeconomic, racial, and religious differences of 1820s Mexico. Poverty-stricken Beatriz, daughter of an influential but recently executed general, chooses security over love, eagerly accepting the proposal of a wealthy landowner. Her new husband, Rodolfo, managed to maintain his wealth during the war for independence, but there are conflicting stories regarding his first wife's death. When they arrive at his estate in the country, Beatriz senses a hostile, feral feeling from the hacienda that is now her home. A few days later, Rodolfo goes away, leaving Beatriz alone among wary servants and a sister-in-law of whom she had been unaware. She begins experiencing hallucinations--a feeling of being watched, strong, bone-chilling winds, and invisible hands that shove her--and seeks solace from the local church. The senior priest scorns her exorcism request, and the terrified Beatriz's only defense from increasingly violent apparitions comes from a young padre who hides an unusual secret of his own. Reminiscent of both Jane Eyre and Carol Goodman's The Widow's House (2017), this can be offered to fans of Gothic suspense.

Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in Cañas's stunning debut. After Beatriz's mestizo father, General Hernandez, is betrayed and murdered in Mexico's War of Independence, Beatriz marries mysterious widower Don Rodolfo Solórzano, as his estate, the Hacienda San Isidro, seems the perfect escape for Beatriz and her mother. Beatriz's first sign that something's off is the housekeeper, who refuses to work without burning copal incense and chalking glyphs on the kitchen door. Then Beatriz is plagued by bad dreams and mysterious, bloody visions. Her sister-in-law, Juana, who shares the estate, insists these are signs that Beatriz is going mad. Beatriz, however, comes to believe that her husband's first wife was murdered and is haunting the house, and she finds an ally in Mestizo priest Padre Andrés, who's torn between the folk beliefs of his childhood and his Catholic teachings. To exorcise the house, the pair digs into a past deliberately obscured by those who would kill them if the truth comes out. Cañas clearly knows the genre, alternately deploying and subverting haunted house tropes. The result is a brilliant contribution to the new wave of postcolonial Gothics. Readers won't want to miss this. Agent: Kari Sutherland, Bradford Literary. (May)

Blending Mexican folklore with haunted house tropes, Cañas skillfully builds the tension and fear to an almost unbearable level in her debut novel. After Beatriz's father is murdered during the Mexican War of Independence, she weds much older Don Rodolfo for security. He brings her to his country estate, the Hacienda San Isidro, and promptly leaves her there. The only friendly face belongs to Padre Andrés, upon whom she increasingly relies as more and more frightening things happen. The house itself is a character--malicious, haunted, and evil. Beatriz tries to find out what happened to Rodolfo's first wife and sets in motion a series of terrible events. Narrator Victoria Villarreal portrays the initially hopeful, then frightened, and finally fierce Beatriz with great skill. The bewilderment in her voice as she narrates the events in the story is painful to hear. Occasional chapters are narrated by Padre Andrés, voiced by Lee Osorio. He capably conveys the conflict of the young Padre, who is torn between the Catholic Church and his more folkloric practices. VERDICT The audio production of this stellar debut adds to the innate tension of the book and belongs in every public library collection.--B. Allison Gray