Quetzalli's Last Song

When President Orains gets re-elected for a third term in 2025, the nation plunges into a second Civil War. Doomed for the Brazos camp, Brum Hesles, her two siblings and mother flee their home in the Houston archipelago overnight, leaving her father behind. Assisted by the Unity Forces, a resistance group fighting the new Great Republic’s regime, Brum reaches the safety of her mother’s ancestral home in the Oaxacan town of El Nidal. There, in the relative safety of her mysterious great-aunt’s house, she discovers a library brimming with strange manuscripts, artifacts, and the “musical” key to a world she thinks is safer than her own.

Who is the heiress of Mitla? And what in Beydo’s name is the Flow? The fate of the Realms and the entire world might unexpectedly rest on the shoulders of an olive-skinned, teenage girl: Brum Hesles, the Keeper of Resonance.



About the Author



Author and illustrator Desirée Calderón de Fawaz is the winner of the 2018 Middle East Book Award for her children’s book Tata’s Earrings (Los Aretes de Tata). Now, the former microbiologist brings us her debut novel Quetzalli’s Last Song, an adventure based on some of the experiences of her unconventional Mexican childhood. In this novel, Desirée is determined to combat the misrepresentation of her cultures through Brum Hesles, a stressed, insensitively sensible, female protagonist that will surely leave readers of POC works yearning for more.

Desirée now lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and three children. When not negotiating peace amongst quarreling chaneques, she practices yoga, learns herbology, and enjoys challenging what you think you know about the world.

To learn more about the Brum Hesles Series and her latest projects, visit www.desireecalderondefawaz.com.