My Broken Language

A Memoir

By: Quiara Alegría Hudes

Narrated by: Quiara Alegría Hudes

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright behind In the Heights comes a spellbinding coming-of-age story, and a vibrant and life-affirming celebration of the women who guide us.

Born in Philadelphia to a Jewish father and an enigmatic Puerto Rican mother, Quiara Alegría Hudes had a love- and-trouble-filled upbringing, haunted by the unspoken, untold family secrets of the barrio. In the face of real-world wounds, the powerful, Orisha-like women of her family possessed a strength, joy and sensuality that left a young Quiara awe-struck. She vowed to tell their stories.

But confronted by a world that treated her like an outsider, Quiara knew she must find a new language, one that reflected the multiple cultures that raised this Puerto Rican child of North Philly. Written and spoken, English and Spanish, sacred and profane - as her search for a way to share her family’s story deepened, an artist emerged, ready to speak her truth.

An inspired exploration of home, family and memory, My Broken Language is the story of a sharp-eyed observer who finds her voice and learns to boldly tell the stories that only she can tell.

©2021 Quiara Alegría Hudes (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Quiara Alegría Hudes rewrites the American landscape." (The New Yorker)

"Quiara Hudes is in her own league. Her sentences will take your breath away. How lucky we are to have her telling our stories." (Lin-Manuel Miranda)

"There’s an unassailable heart to Hudes’ work." (Guardian)