About the author

Ann Dávila Cardinal is a two-time International Latino Book Award winning novelist and aging tattooed punk. She is a Nuyorican, Vermont-based author with an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA), and she comes from a long line of Puerto Rican writers. She is the author of the young adult novels Five Midnights, Category Five, Breakup from Hell, and You’ve Awoken Her. Her adult debut, The Storyteller’s Death, received multiple starred reviews and was the winner of the International Latino Book Award Gold Medal. Her second adult novel, We Need No Wings, was released in 2024. 

The Storyteller’s Death

by Ann Davila Cardinal

International Latino Book Award Gold Medal Winner!

“A beautiful book about family, memories, and the power of stories.” —BuzzFeed

“Mystical, masterful storytelling.” —Ms. Magazine

A gorgeously written family saga about a Puerto Rican woman who finds herself gifted (or cursed?) with a strange ability.

There was always an old woman dying in the back room of her family’s house when Isla was a child…

Isla Larsen Sanchez’s life begins to unravel when her father passes away. Instead of being comforted at home in New Jersey, her mother starts leaving her in Puerto Rico with her grandmother and great-aunt each summer like a piece of forgotten luggage.

When Isla turns eighteen, her grandmother, a great storyteller, dies. It is then that Isla discovers she has a gift passed down through her family’s cuentistas. The tales of dead family storytellers are brought back to life, replaying themselves over and over in front of her.

At first, Isla is enchanted by this connection to the Sanchez cuentistas. But when Isla has a vision of an old murder mystery, she realizes that if she can’t solve it to make the loop end, these seemingly harmless stories could cost Isla her life.

Author letter and Discussion guide