The Witches of El Paso

If you call to the witches, they will come.

1943, El Paso, Texas: teenager Nena spends her days caring for the small children of her older sisters, while longing for a life of freedom and adventure. The premonitions and fainting spells she has endured since childhood are getting worse, and Nena worries she’ll end up like the scary old curandera down the street. Nena prays for help, and when the mysterious Sister Benedicta arrives late one night, Nena follows her across the borders of space and time. In colonial Mexico, Nena grows into her power, finding love and learning that magic always comes with a price.

In the present day, Nena’s grandniece, Marta, balances a struggling legal aid practice with motherhood and the care of the now ninety-three-year-old Nena. When Marta agrees to help search for a daughter Nena left in the past, the two forge a fierce connection. Marta’s own supernatural powers emerge, awakening her to new possibilities that threaten the life she has constructed.

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Praise for The Witches of El Paso

“Gripping and cinematic, the novel’s worlds of El Paso past and present will bewitch and enrapture.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review), July 2024

“Luis Jaramillo’s debut novel is a taut, fantastical, time-folding epic… Jaramillo has a knack for writing lusty, restless spirits.” — Lit Hub, 17 Novels You Need to Read This Fall, September 2024

“[Jaramillo’s] writing is daring and cinematic, and Spanish language woven throughout emphasizes a rich backdrop of Mexican folklore…a soulful historical fantasy about a sisterhood in crisis. I wanted to linger in that world for as long as possible.” — New York Times Book Review, In ‘The Witches of El Paso,’ Magic Is a Blessing and a Curse, October 2024

“Jaramillo’s debut novel strikingly portrays a family’s unrelenting love and survival across borders, generations, and adversity with vivid descriptions of El Paso, Juarez, and the supernatural.” — Booklist, September 2024

“Sexy, smart, and soulful, Luis Jaramillo’s The Witches of El Paso pulls us across borders and time to get to the essence of what it means for families to survive this beautiful, fractured world.” — Mira Jacob, national bestselling author of Good Talk

“Spanning borders and centuries, The Witches of El Paso is a wild, wondrous novel about the magic that is singing all around us. With this story, Luis Jaramillo shows us how to catch the tune.” — Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth, an international bestseller and National Book Award finalist