For 2025 we’ve chosen a work of contemporary fiction called The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea.

The plot is simple enough. In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader.

The magic of this book comes in the telling. Imagine a tornado picking up speed as it whirls through and around each character: Big Angel, his wife Perla, his half-brother Little Angel, his children, parents, in-laws, grandchildren, and neighbors. The tornado dislodges and blends their memories, foibles, regrets, desires, and grief through rapid fire dialogues and interior monologues. As we learn tales that have passed into family lore, we are treated to a depiction of the de La Cruz family that is at turns tragic, bawdy, funny, joyful, and, ultimately, about love and grace.