Hacienda – Canas Isabel (2023)

A gripping horror novel about a haunted estate amid the agave fields. In the 1820s, as Mexico’s war of independence from Spain ends and the empire becomes a republic, the father of the young Beatriz is executed during the uprising and her childhood home is burned down. When the handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes to her, Beatriz decides to ignore the rumours surrounding the sudden death of his first wife and accepts. Hacienda San Isidro, however, is not the safe refuge she imagined. After Rodolfo leaves for work, Beatriz begins to feel trapped in a terrifying dream inside the desolate house. She cannot sleep, strange sounds disturb her, vivid visions haunt her, and she senses that something is pursuing her at every turn. Rodolfo’s sister Juana mocks her fears, yet refuses to enter the house at night. Why does the cook burn copal incense, and how did the first Doña Solórzano really die? Beatriz knows only one thing for certain: something is wrong with the estate. She seeks help from the young priest Andrés, whose Indigenous grandmother has passed useful abilities on to him. Will they be enough to protect Beatriz, who dangerously attracts him, and defeat the dark forces that have taken complete control of the hacienda? The novel is nominated for the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Horror and Best Debut Novel, as well as the 2022 Bram Stoker Award for Best Debut Novel, and is named the best horror novel of 2022 by Feminist Book Club.