Sabrina & Corina
Stories
Book - 2019
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • Latinas of Indigenous descent living in the American West take center stage in this haunting debut story collection—a powerful meditation on friendship, mothers and daughters, and the deep-rooted truths of our homelands. 
“Here are stories that blaze like wildfires, with characters who made me laugh and broke my heart.”—Sandra Cisneros
WINNER OF THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARD • FINALIST FOR THE STORY PRIZE • FINALIST FOR THE PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE FOR DEBUT SHORT STORY COLLECTION
Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s magnetic story collection breathes life into her Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the land they inhabit in the American West. Against the remarkable backdrop of Denver, Colorado—a place that is as fierce as it is exquisite—these women navigate the land the way they navigate their lives: with caution, grace, and quiet force.
In “Sugar Babies,” ancestry and heritage are hidden inside the earth but tend to rise during land disputes. “Any Further West” follows a sex worker and her daughter as they leave their ancestral home in southern Colorado only to find a foreign and hostile land in California. In “Tomi,” a woman leaves prison and finds herself in a gentrified city that is a shadow of the one she remembers from her childhood. And in the title story, “Sabrina & Corina,” a Denver family falls into a cycle of violence against women, coming together only through ritual.
Sabrina & Corina is a moving narrative of unrelenting feminine power and an exploration of the universal experiences of abandonment, heritage, and an eternal sense of home.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal 
“Sabrina & Corina isn’t just good, it’s masterful storytelling. Fajardo-Anstine is a fearless writer: her women are strong and scarred witnesses of the violations of their homelands, their culture, their bodies; her plots turn and surprise, unerring and organic in their comprehensiveness; her characters break your heart, but you keep on going because you know you are in the hands of a master. Her stories move through the heart of darkness and illuminate it with the soul of truth.”—Julia Alvarez, author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
“[A] powerhouse debut . . . stylistically superb, with crisp dialogue and unforgettable characters, Sabrina & Corina introduces an impressive new talent to American letters.”—Rigoberto González, NBC News
Baker & Taylor
A debut story collection about female relationships and the deep-rooted truths of our homelands features Latina protagonists of indigenous descent who cautiously navigate the violence and changes in a Denver, Colorado community.
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Opinion
From Library Staff
From Library Staff
PimaLib_NuestrasRaices
Feb 10, 2020
Latinas of Indigenous descent living in the American West take center stage in this haunting debut story collection: a powerful meditation on friendship, mothers and daughters, and the deep-rooted truths of our homelands.--Random House, Inc.
A National Book Award Finalist.
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ArapahoeStaff26
Aug 27, 2019
That night I dreamed of my mother before she was sick. I was five years old and we were visiting my grandfather far away in a town called Saguarita, where my mother had grown up. The land was a wide valley surrounded by the bluest mountains with the whitest peaks. Cora and I were playing tag in the big field behind Grandpa Marcelo's tiny adobe home. The grown-ups watched from the lighted wooden porch. The were speaking softly and sipping beers, listening to Spanish songs on the radio, a strumming, a sad guitar. Cora and I would turn back and wave to them before chasing each other again, twirling and giggling in all directions. pg. 96
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Add a CommentLatina + "Indigenous roots". National Book Award 2020
This is a book that I want all of my sisters and gal pals to read. And my brothers and guy friends, too! This collection of short stories is something that I cannot stop thinking about. Hispanic women and culture need to be seen. I love that the author sets these stories in Colorado where her family has lived for generations.
I really enjoyed reading this book of short stories. The stories were filled with culture and family. Even though each family was different they had a rich culture in common. I thought most of the stories were sad in a way, I kind of wished for a happy ending in one or two of them but there were happy moments in each one.
An honest, thoughtful, and enthralling collection of short stories about Colorado women who inhabit a culture everyone should know more about. Themes from one story flow to the next without seeming overused or trite. Characters stay with you long after you have set the book down. Highly recommend; a wonderful "own voices" collection of stories.
Eleven very good stories about girls and women set in the American south west Latino and indigenous communities.
2019
This book was a dazzling representation of women facing difficult familial and identity struggles in the American West. Fajardo-Anstine’s character depictions cut straight to the heart and possess an air of mystery. This collection of stories leaves the reader feeling full of poignant emotions and wanting to follow these women for many more pages.
I loved all the Denver and Colorado settings in this book. For being a debut author, this was a very mature collection of stories. A great pick for anyone wanting diverse voices and a local setting.
A book of short stories based around denver by and indienous/latina mostly about abandonment, relationships and experiences of women.
I stayed up way too late to finish Sabrina & Corina and am in complete and utter love. My fav stories were Sisters, Tomi, and the title story, but all were good.