The PBS “American Masters” program I watched last week featured author Julia Alvarez and detailed how her important work in fiction helped make American Latina literature a major part of publishing in the 1990s. I have always known about her fiction since my days as a bookseller in Santa Fe, New Mexico during that same period as well. However, I had never read one of her novels until now.

Afterlife tells the story of retired English Literature professor, Antonia Vega. She had just lost her beloved husband, Sam, and was beginning a new chapter in life. But when her older sister, Izzy, disappears and a pregnant, undocumented teenager from Mexico comes to her door, Antonia’s life takes an unforeseen turn, causing her to scrutinize everything she has always believed.

Alvarez’s storytelling is excellent, especially when depicting Antonia, her three sisters — Mona, Tilly, and Izzy — and the pregnant teenager. The characters seemed genuine, and the story felt alive. To be honest, I don’t think I would have appreciated Afterlife when I was in my twenties or thirties. But now that I’m 54 and have lived through some things, Alvarez’s novel resonates with me.

In the novel, she masterfully explores immigration, sisterhood, and the grief of widowhood. This impactful short novel, Afterlife, demonstrates how life can unexpectedly shift, causing one’s fundamental understanding of it to change in an instant. This will be one of my favorite reads of 2025, and I will recommend this one to the readers I know in my personal life. Bravo Julia Alvarez!