Mayra

Two childhood friends reunite in Gonzalez’s expressive if underdeveloped debut. Ingrid still lives in the Cuban enclave of Hialeah, Fla., where she grew up with the bold and sassy Mayra, who once helped draw Ingrid out of her shell. The women haven’t seen each other since Mayra headed north for college a decade earlier, but Ingrid accepts Mayra’s invitation to join her at a remote house in the Everglades. Expecting to be there alone with Mayra, Ingrid is “deflated” to discover that Mayra’s boyfriend, Benji, whose family owns the house, is there, too. During her visit, Ingrid witnesses such strange things as Benji devouring the lint he’d just cleaned from a window, and she finds a staircase that leads into what appears to be a tree trunk. Eventually, Ingrid uncovers clues about the house’s mysteries in an old diary kept by a woman who lived there decades earlier. The plot is weighed down by extended flashbacks to Ingrid and Mayra’s childhood, but Gonzalez offers a nuanced depiction of their intense friendship and what drove them apart, exploring Ingrid’s resentment of Mayra for leaving and bitterness at the way Mayra now views Hialeah as a “gringa” would. Though uneven, this promises good things to come from Gonzalez. Agent: Sarah Bowlin, Aevitas Creative Management. (July)