Dare to climb the tree of death.
Sunflower stems entwine around me, pulling me into the earth. I struggle, but they wrap around me too tightly, binding my limbs, digging into my flesh. I gasp for air but gag on petals. I’m dragged down deeper and deeper.
francisca and the forgotten
HIT THE GROUND RUNNING: FRANCISCA AND THE FORGOTTEN FAST FACTS
Synopsis: Two girls—one dead, one alive—are trapped in the Land of the Forgotten and must confront repressed memories to escape.
Category: Novel
Genre: YA Gothic Horror, LGBT
Status: Available for preorders here!
Fun Fact: The first iteration of this story was a poem called “The Orange Tree We Never Climb,” which is also the title of the first chapter!
When can I read it?: The book comes out on October 7th, so not much longer!
One sentence just isn’t enough! PLEASE give me a longer synopsis!
We all have memories we’d rather forget, but what would we become without them?
Longing for her missing mother and misunderstood by her transphobic father, Francisca Fuentes fights to live as her truest self. Then a sudden move to a dusty California ghost town thrusts her into chaos.
A cursed orange tree calls her name. A malevolent spirit demands recognition. Mirror images of grief, separated by a century, stain every inch of Francisca’s new home. In this house on the border between life and death, she struggles to maintain her will to survive.
Struggles, but fails.
Francisca soon finds herself trapped in la tierra de los olvidados: the land of the forgotten, where lost souls turn to dust. To escape, she must confront repressed memories, making peace with parts of herself she tried to leave behind. However, she is not alone…
Journey through the haunted house of memory and a fresh take on the Dia de los Muertos mythos with this life-affirming novel by a suicide survivor, where horror is always balanced by hope.
Gallery
Posts about Francisca and the Forgotten on this site
- Francisca and the Forgotten preorders
- The official Francisca and the Forgotten playlist
- First Chapter (the first chapter of my first draft of the manuscript—you’ll have to wait for the book to come out to read the real first chapter!)
Posts about Francisca and the Forgotten on other sites


