"A new and authentic voice of the urban Latino experience." --Esmeralda Santiago, author of When I Was Puerto Rican

In a stunning narrative combining the gritty rhythms of Junot Diaz with the noirgenius of Walter Mosley, Bodega Dreams announces the arrival of a writer who The Village Voice has already hailed as "a Writer on the Verge."

The word is out in Spanish Harlem: Willy Bodega is king.Need college tuition for your daughter?Start-up funds for your fruit stand?Bodega can help.He gives everyone a leg up, in exchange only for loyalty--and a steady income from the drugs he pushes.

Lyric, inspired, and darkly funny, this powerful debut novel brilliantly evokes the trial of Chino, a smart, promising young man to whom Bodega turns for a favor.Chino is drawn to Bodega's street-smart idealism, but soon finds himself over his head, navigating an underworld of switchblade tempers, turncoat morality, and murder.