When Xochitl Gonzalez was reading literature to research her third novel, she noticed something that didn’t quite feel right: there weren’t enough scenes featuring characters of color having a ball together. Even in tough times growing up, the writer recalls, her family always found reasons to celebrate. “My grandfather recycled bottles to pay for my communion party when I was 7,” says Gonzalez, 48. “So often, our stories are more about suffering than joy. But what I knew—and what shaped so much of my personality—was being at parties.”
So for her third novel, the best-selling author of Olga Dies Dreaming and Anita de Monte Laughs Last wrote a…
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