Kirstin Valdez Quade’s debut novel The Five Wounds tells the story of a year in the life of a Mexican-American family, chronicling their struggles as they confront teenage pregnancy, unemployment, and addiction.

On this episode, Valdez Quade speaks with Commonweal managing editor Katie Daniels about the value of vulnerability, the religious history of the American southwest, and the importance of empathy in fiction.

For further reading:

·     Hope for Suffering Souls, Valerie Sayers

·     To Look Closely Is to Love, Kirstin Valdez Quade

·     Writing into Uncertainty, Dominic Preziosi

PS: “The problem in life is that we need so many epiphanies—one is not enough.”—Kirstin Valdez Quade