In this literary debut, a young girl tells of her traumatic life via a Mexican card game in a “heart-wrenching tale of violence, love and a broken family” (Los Angeles Times).

With her older sister Estrella in the ICU and her father in jail, eleven-year-old Luz Castillo has been taken into the custody of the state. Alone in her room, she retreats behind a wall of silence, writing in her journal and shuffling through her beloved deck of lotería cards, a Latin American game of chance . Each of the cards’ colorful images—mermaids, bottles, spiders, death, and stars—sparks a random memory.

Pieced together, these snapshots bring into focus the joy and pain of the young girl’s life, and the events that led to her present situation. But just as the story becomes clear, a breathtaking twist changes everything.

By turns affecting and inspiring, Lotería is a powerful novel that reminds us of the importance of remembering, even when we are trying to forget.

Beautiful images of lotería cards are featured throughout this intricate and haunting novel.

“A taut, fraught, look at tragedy, its aftermath, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.” —Justin Torres, National Book award-winning author of Blackouts

“Sheer genius.” —Booklist, starred review

“Loteria . . . captures, from a wide-eyed yet uncloying child’s perspective, the way in which life can feel a lot like a game of chance.” —Vogue

“Like the novels of Cortazar, its form is intricate and beautiful.” —Charles Baxter, author of The Feast of Love

“An intriguing debut and an elegiac, miniature entry in the literature of Latin American diaspora that will break your heart.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review