Authors Interviewing Characters: María Alejandra Barrios Vélez

The Waves Take You Home

In this heartfelt story about how the places we run from hold the answers to our deepest challenges, the death of her grandmother brings a young woman home, where she must face the past in order to become the heir of not just the family restaurant, but her own destiny.

Violeta Sanoguera had always done what she was told. She left the man she loved in Colombia in pursuit of a better life for herself and because her mother and grandmother didn’t approve of him. Chasing dreams of education and art in New York City, and with a new love, twenty-eight-year-old Violeta establishes a new life for herself, on her terms. But when her grandmother suddenly dies, everything changes.

After years of being on her own in NYC, Violeta finds herself on a plane back to Colombia, accompanied at all times by the ghost of her grandmother who is sending her messages and signs, to find she is the heir of the failing family restaurant, the very one Abuela told her to run from in the first place. The journey leads her to rediscover her home, her grandmother, and even the flame of an old love.

María Alejandra Barrios Vélez interviews Violeta Sanoguera

María Alejandra Barrios Vélez interviews Violeta Sanoguera, the main character of her novel, The Waves Take You Home. They discuss Violeta’s return to Colombia, her family, and taking over her Abuela’s restaurant, Caminito.

MABV: After living in NYC for a long time, how does it feel to return to Barranquilla, Colombia? Also, what has it been like taking over your Abuela’s restaurant, Caminito?

Violeta: Wipes sweat with the back of her hand. Well, I certainly have lost some tolerance for the heat, that’s for sure! But it’s been wonderful to see old friends, and finally to get to be a part of the restaurant after not being able to my whole life.

MABV: Why did your Abuela keep you away from the restaurant?

Violeta: ….I don’t know if I can talk about it yet. I lost my Abuela a couple of days ago, and I have a lot to unpack about the way she handled the restaurant and everything in her life. I didn’t expect her to keep so many secrets— Like most things with the women in my family, it is complicated. But Anton, our chef, and I are handling things the best we can, and we’re determined to make “Caminito” one of the best restaurants in Barranquilla again. Maybe, even in the country, who knows? Laughs. 

MABV: And what is your plan to achieve that?

Violeta: I’m not sure yet! I don’t have a lot of experience running a restaurant, despite growing up in one. We do have one thing in our favor though. Our chef is excellent. Anton cooks the best paella in the city—it’s briny, delicate and delicious! He also makes delightful flan and pineapple rum cakes. Once you eat them you’ll never be able to forget them. I would tell you his secrets, but he would kill me. 

MABV: Do you cook yourself?

Violeta: …That is another complicated question! Violeta takes one of her long curls and straightens it with her index finger. I do, but I’m not the best cook. My Abuela never taught me, so I tried to cook in secret. To try a hand at her recipes….but it’s difficult to replicate someone’s recipes when you know you’ll never make them as well as they did. But I’m learning, Anton doesn’t think I’m improving….but I do. 

MABV: Did your Abuela fear for you to be in the kitchen?

Violeta: She didn’t want me to follow in her footsteps. She thought that if I learned how to cook, I’d put my dreams aside and never leave Barranquilla. Just continue as they did there and live the life she led, taking care of us, and the restaurant. She wanted more for me.

MABV: We can’t blame her for that.

Violeta: No, we certainly can’t. But I do wish she had let me make my own decisions, you know? Sometimes I wonder if the life I’m living is really for me, or if it’s for her. For what she wanted.

MABV: Do you wish sometimes you could talk to her, about everything that remained unsaid?

Violeta: Takes a deep breath. I do. I mean—it’s complicated.

MABV: What do you mean?

Violeta: Do you ever feel someone’s presence after they die? Like you can’t explain it, but you smell their scent and it’s almost like you know they’re there, but you can’t touch them? And you don’t tell anyone because how could you, they’d think you have lost your mind? But you know…

MABV: I do. 

Violeta: Sometimes I wonder if it’s just grief. But I do feel her with me. Like she stayed behind just to deliver a message. 

MABV: And what does she say to you?

Violeta: She says so much: She tells me about her dreams for me, for the restaurant, her life before I met her. All she has for me, after her death—are words. 

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María Alejandra Barrios is a writer and educator from Barranquilla, Colombia. She has an MA in Creative Writing from The University of Manchester and currently lives in Brooklyn. Her novel THE WAVES TAKE YOU HOME is forthcoming from Lake Union Publishing, Spring 2024. View the announcement here. Pre-order here.

Her Stories have been published in places such as Reservoir Journal, Cosmonauts Avenue, Jellyfish Review, Lost Balloon, Shenandoah Literary, Vol.1 Brooklyn, El Malpensante, Moon City, Fractured Lit, and SmokeLong Quarterly. She was the 2020 SmokeLong Flash Fiction Fellow and her work has been supported by organizations such as Vermont Studio Center, Caldera Arts Center, and the New Orleans Writing Residency. She is a Kweli Art of the Short Story Writing Workshop alum and Kweli fellow.

María Alejandra Barrios is represented by Amanda Orozco at Transatlantic Agency.

María teaches classes in places such as Gotham Writers, Paragraph NY, and Catapult.

María also edits SmokeLong en Español.

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing