New novel a powerful depiction of Puerto Rico's struggle with Hurricane Maria

Esmeralda Santiago’s new novel, Las Madres, tells the harrowing story of one of the deadliest natural disasters to hit Puerto Rico in the last century through the eyes of those who lived through it. 

“Being alive doesn’t mean that you’re not living with the trauma of this experience,” the award-winning author said in an interview with NBC News. “What I really wanted to convey is that these people are human beings — and they’re going to be feeling that hurricane for the rest of their lives.”

The novel is divided into two main sections: The first tells the stories and experiences of five women who live in the U.S. but ended up in Puerto Rico right as the deadly category 5 hurricane unleashed its power. 

The second depicts the moments that lead to the storm’s impact, the ones the women lived during the hurricane, and the aftermath of the powerful storm. 

Santiago beautifully describes the moments lived during the storm in great detail, from the sounds heard inside a house as the strong winds pounded the shutters to the distress felt by those who were unable to reach their loved ones because of the destruction. 

The author also takes the reader into the heartbreaking hardships that the people on the island lived in during the aftermath of the storm. Puerto Ricans had to spend countless days and nights without power as they cleaned up the debris from the streets and inside their homes. 

Yet despite describing the terrible times, Santiago is able to capture how individuals, families, and neighbors make it through the strenuous circumstances by helping each other out as fellow Puerto Ricans. 

Despite being originally from Puerto Rico, Santiago, 75, left the territory for New York when she was 13 years old. However, “in my imagination — in my mental, emotional life, I still live on the island — I think it’s important, for me writing in English, that people in the United States can see a very specific story about what happened, because sometimes the news only gives us little bites,” she said. 

Santiago was inspired to write the novel out of conversations she had had with her father before he passed away. She said he would talk about his experience when Hurricane Felipe II hit the island in 1928 when he was eight years old. 

“He remembered incredible details of that, and what really struck me is how emotional he got when he talked about that terrifying traumatic experience as a little kid.” 

To achieve an accurate portrayal of what the residents of Puerto Rico went through during those frightening times, Santiago went through countless first-hand accounts and reports of the tragedy and talked to several survivors. 

“I had to become the hurricane,” she said. “If I become the hurricane, you can understand the horror.” 

Through the novel, Santiago is not only able to document the tragedy that devastated her homeland but also the resilience of the Puerto Rican people.