Complex family dynamics and tough love provide rich fodder for Xochitl Gonzalez’s brilliant debut novel Olga Dies Dreaming. Olga and Prieto Acevedo are power siblings poised to leave their mark on New York City: Prieto is a rising star in the local politics scene, and Olga is a wedding planner to Manhattan’s social elite. But their promising careers face disruption when their radical mother Blanca, an activist for Puerto Rico’s independence movement, returns to their Brooklyn home. Blanca abandoned Olga and Prieto as children to focus on her work decades ago, causing a rift that only widened as the two grew up. Now together again, the three Acevedos are forced to revisit their past to imagine a better future. —Cady Lang