Blood may be thicker than water, but some family ties run even deeper than that. Three authors discuss their novels of familial entanglement and generational connection. Dalia Azim’s Country of Origin opens in Egypt 1952, just before revolution, on the story of Halah Ibrahim, a young woman who chafes against her military-general father. Halal’s decision to flee the country spins out into generation-spanning consequences she never could have foreseen. Rubén Degollado’s The Family Izquierdo follows multiple generations of a Mexican American family in McAllen as they confront a string of tragedies. Has a neighbor’s curse brought trouble upon the Izquierdos, or is it something else? Jamie Ford’s The Many Daughters of Afong Moy follows a poet whose ability to connect with long-dead ancestors haunts her waking life—and who is sent on a desperate quest when her five-year-old daughter begins to exhibit the same power.

Moderator: Emily Roberts Stone, Texas Highways magazine editor-in-chiefDalia Azim, Rubén Degollado, Jamie Ford, Country of Origin, The Family Izquierdo, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy