A post-punk story of family, inherited drama, and love.
Set amidst the outsider worlds of early 2000s downtown New York, 1990s Los Angeles, and 1940s Mexico City, Like Son is the not-so-simple story of a father, a son, and the love-blindness shared between them.
Meet Frank Cruz: post-punk, thirty-years-old, and about to unwittingly inherit his dead father’s legacy. Born to parents tangled in a doomed love affair, Frank grows up in both the poorest barrios and poshest hills of Southern California. Soon after setting out on his own, Frank is drawn back to help his estranged and blind father navigate an untimely death. On his deathbed, Frank’s father gives him a crumbling photograph of a woman with a stunning gaze: Nahui Olin, a fiery and enigmatic member of the early 20th-century Mexican avant-garde who, family legend has it, forever changed the Cruz family.
Punctured to his core by Nahui, Frank takes her portrait and flees to New York City to start anew—this time for real. He meets eccentric, gorgeous, and sharp-tongued Nathalie. The two fall in love, but then, after seven years of happy-go-lucky life together, the New York skyline tumbles, and Frank meets his predestined fate.
“A powerfully written chronicle of love.”
—Booklist
“Lemus doesn’t waste a word in this smart, never sentimental novel.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Felicia Luna Lemus is a writer with a serious voice.”
—Time Out New York
“A writer with an unparalleled literary style, Felicia Luna Lemus comes charging full force.”
—El Paso Times
“Traversing American geographies, histories, races and genders, Lemus has crafted a delicious, layered narrative.”
—Go Magazine
“Felicia Luna Lemus’ novel Like Son is a revelation in transgender literature.”
—Our Lives
“Lemus is revolutionizing fiction about trans issues.”
—Advocate
“A must read book. Edgy and full of twists and turns, Like Son resonates with all people who have ever fought just to be themselves.”
—Latina Magazine
(Akashic Books, 2007)