{"product_id":"a-haunting-in-hialeah-gardens-9780593472132","title":"A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens","description":"\u003cb\u003eA genre-bending debut with a fiercely political heart, \u003ci\u003eA Haunting in Hialeah Gardens\u003c\/i\u003e explores the weight of the devil's bargain, following the lengths one man will go to for the promise of freedom.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHugo Contreras's world in Miami has shrunk. Since his wife died, Hugo's debt from her medical bills has become insurmountable. He shuffles between his efficiency apartment, La Carreta (his favorite place for a cafecito), and a botanica in a strip mall where he works as the resident babal?wo. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e One day, Hugo's nemesis calls. Alexi Ramirez is a debt collector who has been hounding Hugo for years, and Hugo assumes this call is just more of the same. Except this time Alexi is calling because he needs spiritual help. His house is haunted. Alexi proposes a deal: If Hugo can successfully cleanse his home before Noche Buena, Alexi will forgive Hugo's debt. Hugo reluctantly accepts, but there's one issue: Despite being a babal?wo, he doesn't believe in spirits. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Hugo plans to do what he's done with dozens of clients before: use sleight of hand and amateur psychology to convince Alexi the spirits have departed. But when the job turns out to be more than Hugo bargained for, Hugo's old tricks don't work. Memories of his past--his childhood in the Bolivian silver mines and a fraught crossing into the United States as a boy--collide with Alexi's demons in an explosive climax. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, \u003ci\u003eA Haunting in Hialeah Gardens\u003c\/i\u003e explores questions of visibility, migration, and what we owe--to ourselves, our families, and our histories.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRaul Palma\u003c\/b\u003e is a second-generation Cuban American born and raised in Miami. His short story collection \u003ci\u003eIn This World of Ultraviolet Light\u003c\/i\u003e won the 2021 Don Belton Prize. His writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eAlaska Quarterly Review, The Greensboro Review, Hayden's Ferry Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. He teaches fiction at Ithaca College, where he is the associate dean of faculty in Ithaca College's School of Humanities and Sciences. \u003ci\u003eA Haunting in Hialeah Gardens\u003c\/i\u003e is his debut novel.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50878021304594,"sku":"9780593472132","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ebd3011f-7657-49ca-9a70-01ef865c60d9.jpg?v=1744279890","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-haunting-in-hialeah-gardens-9780593472132","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}