Carlos Montoya–a Novel

awards:

2024 Latino Book Award– Finalist–Rudolfo Anaya Best Latino Focused Fiction Book

2024 Mayor’s Award for the Arts–Individual Literary Artist

praise:

“This story of a complicated man makes for compelling reading.” Kirkus Indie Reviews

“Epic novel…an introspective patriarch visits his flaws upon his family in the musing, multigenerational Carlos Montoya…” Foreword Reviews

“Beautiful– cinematic yet intimate. I love how the book moves in ripples out from the man to wider context of history and family experience. Each chapter opens the door onto a whole other court of memory.”—Jennifer C.Cornell, author of Departures

“Chronicler of hard and valuable lives. This is a career to watch.” —Tracy Daugherty, author of One Day the Wind Changed

“Thank you very very much for writing this. I’m a writer too, and at my age now I’m ready to be more honest about my family’s many issues. Keep going.” –Cristina Montoya

from the inside flap:

World War I veteran and family patriarch Carlos Montoya wanders the llano of New Mexico and Colorado, tormented by ghosts and struggling to achieve spiritual and familial unity. Just as the arms of the Six-Armed Cross at La Garita, Colorado, point toward a single center, the Montoya family legacy brings together the additional arms of incompatibility, intimacy, and multiple realities—both sensible and mystical. Three generations must come to terms with what it means for a family to be broken by lies—and by truth.

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John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in creative writing (fiction) from Oregon State University. In 2013, Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature named him one of the Top 10 New Latino Authors to Watch and Read. He is a Professor of English at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Illinois, where he teaches writing and literature.