Evamar

By: Engle, Margarita

Three starred reviews

From award-winning author Margarita Engle comes a "spellbinding" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) novel in verse about first love, hidden cultures, and ancestral connections that follows a teen's journey to uncover her late grandmother's roots in Cuba.

Just before she was transformed
into an invisible spirit
my grandmother whispered her last wishes
into my ear:

Sprinkle my ashes in a patch of girasoles,
wait patiently, harvest the seeds,
fly to la isla, find el jard n,
plant las semillas.
Then and only then--
read my diaries.

Evamar has arrived in Cuba with her abuela's ashes and her mother's warnings: Don't talk politics, boil the tap water before you drink, y por favor absolutamente, don't fall in love. But then she meets R o, a captivating drummer whose music and presence she can't ignore.

R o bears his own scars, separated from his family in the United States. As their bond deepens, Evamar discovers an ancestral treasure that could change her future--and the lives of millions of Caribbeans.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 166598807X
• ISBN13: 9781665988070
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12