Daughter of Fire

A Novel

By: Sofia Robleda

Narrated by: Ana Lucia Robleda

For a young woman coming of age in sixteenth-century Guatemala, safeguarding her people’s legacy is a dangerous pursuit in a mystical, empowering, and richly imagined historical novel.

Catalina de Cerrato is being raised by her widowed father, Don Alonso, in 1551 Guatemala, scarcely thirty years since the Spanish invasion. A ruling member of the oppressive Spanish hierarchy, Don Alonso holds sway over the newly relegated lower class of Indigenous communities. Fiercely independent, Catalina struggles to honor her father and her late mother, a Maya noblewoman to whom Catalina made a vow that only she can keep: preserve the lost sacred text of the Popol Vuh, the treasured and now forbidden history of the K’iche’ people.

Urged on by her mother’s spirit voice, and possessing the gift of committing the invaluable stories to memory, Catalina embarks on a secret and transcendent quest to rewrite them. Through ancient pyramids, Spanish villas, and caves of masked devils, she finds an ally in the captivating Juan de Rojas, a lord whose rule was compromised by the invasion. But as their love and trust unfold, and Don Alonso’s tyranny escalates, Catalina must confront her conflicted blood heritage—and its secrets—once and for all if she’s to follow her dangerous quest to its historic end.

©2024 Sofia Robleda Gomez. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Daughter of Fire is a gorgeous, gripping tale of one young woman’s struggle to find herself amid the terrors of colonialism and the desperate need to uphold the heritage of her people, bound up in her love for her mother.”—Booklist

“Robleda’s first novel shows promise and would be a good add to Latine mythology collections. Young adult readers will appreciate the chivalrous romance, and those with an interest in Latin American history will find the cultural perspective refreshing.”—Library Journal

“This is a well-researched novel telling of a time period which doesn’t often appear in fiction.”—Historical Novels Review

Great Story!!

What a great story! It’s hard to find fiction books that talk about the Popol Vuh and I was glad to have found this book. The author did a great job in weaving the Popol Vuh in this wonderful story!!

Powerful story but hard to follow at first

This was a short book (280 pages) but took me FOREVER to finish the audiobook for it. This book is about a girl with an indigenous mother and a Spanish colonizer father living in Guatemala in the 16th century. She is working to preserve some secret and dangerous parts of her culture without being found out by the Spanish - including her father. I can objectively say it was a good story, but I was a little misled going into it — I was told this was a historical fiction *fantasy*, when it’s really just historical fiction. I kept going because it did interest me, but overall just wasn’t the type of book I would typically choose. It was a powerful story though, and I’m glad I got some insight into Spanish colonization and what it was likely like for those living under it and forced to assimilate and have their culture destroyed.

Beautiful book, beautiful narration

My niece is adopted and came to the US from Guatemala, and reading this was really interesting to learn more about the culture and history she came from. Sofia Robleda paints a beautiful and at times heart-wrenching story and her sister, Ana Lucia Robleda, narrates it with grace and heartfelt emotion. I definitely recommmend this book to anyone who is considering it. The audio is fantastic and adds to the magic of the writing.

Writen by a Latina for latinas

This book is so massively important. It's a re-envisioning of what happened to those dear voices that are forever lost to colonialism. Written by a Latina for other Latinas. An important thing as their stories are so often not taken into consideration or are overlooked. Especially central American women. As a college professor, the caliber of this book is one I will teach in my class, along with authors such as Isabel Allende and Giocanda Belli. Coming from a central American scholar, this book has layers worth reading into and is worth the read. 🙏

It was good but, not what it promised

I was so excited when this book was announced and I got the book because I wanted to learn more about Guatemala and how colonization and genocide affected the people. I found that this book promised too much but didn’t deliver. I didn’t think Catalina really grows as a character and this book has time jumps so, you would expect that made her become a mature/strong female character but no; she still didn’t peak her mind and got caught EVERYTIME she decided to do anything at all. The whole book thing should have been the focus of this story, not other things like the romance that came out of NOWHERE! ANYWAY, I really did enjoy some aspects of this book. The way they spoke about the influence of cristianity and the Spaniards coming to a community of indigenous beliefs and people, because that’s the experience we share as Latinx people with colonization. I really enjoyed the fact that we explored the inner workings of how the Spaniards worked; their inner turmoils and how politics plays a big part in how history and how people’s lives get changed in the process. Anyway, I really am looking forward to more from this author; hopefully more stories about Guatemala and their history.