The Sunday Tertulia: A Novel

“Heartfelt, intelligent. . . imagine Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club crossed with Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. . . . Carlson’s love and appreciation for Latin cadences and culture comes though on every page.”  — Los Angeles Times

Claire is a young, struggling New Yorker whose understanding of life is enriched after a group of older and wiser Latina women bring her into a close-knit circle: their Upper West Side tertulia. Once a month, they come together for a Sunday afternoon of revelry, at which delicious food and strong opinions are served up in equal measure. Through their recollections and counsel, Claire comes to know the colorful, exotic, and sometimes contradictory attitudes that informed these women's lives. She begins to see her own challenges through a prism more poetic and worldly. Humorous and bittersweet, The Sunday Tertulia brings to life cherished Latin traditions and celebrates women's wisdom and spirituality.