Mayra

A Novel

By: Nicky Gonzalez

A twisty gothic debut about two women—who shared an intense, toxic friendship as children—reconnecting at a secluded house deep in the swamplands of Florida

It’s been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra, a fearless rebel who fled their hometown of Miami for college in the Northeast. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend at a house in the Everglades, Ingrid impulsively accepts.

From the moment Ingrid sets out for the house, danger looms: the directions to the house are difficult, she’s out of reach of cell service, and the wet maw of the swamp threatens to swallow her up as she drives deeper into the Everglades. But once she arrives, the two women settle into the familiar intimacy of each other’s company—their reunion only spoiled by the reemergence of past disagreements, and the unexpected presence of Mayra’s new boyfriend Benji.

The trio spend their hours hiking around the property, eating lavish meals, and exploring the labyrinthine house, which has belonged to Benji’s family for many generations. In the house and its grounds, time itself seems to stretch and expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself. When Ingrid finds an aged journal that holds a clue to understanding the house, she must fight to hold onto herself while uncovering the journal’s secrets, or risk being subsumed by the insatiable draw of the house forever.

©2025 Nicky Gonzalez (P)2025 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“I ate this greedily; I swallowed it whole. Beguiling and moody and strange, Mayra shimmers with supernatural eeriness and the mercuriality of memory. Some best friendships are tender; some overwhelming, even creepy—Mayra and Ingrid’s is all three. Nicky Gonzalez unspools all the disorienting, lonely-making work of getting unstuck and finding home and bliss—then, she terrifies you, has you turning pages while you’re reaching for your keys, checking the locks, wishing you could text Ingrid and urge her to get a grip. This is a mesmerizing, hallucinatory adrenaline rush of a novel, and Gonzalez is the future of horror writing.”—Claire Luchette, author of Agatha of Little Neon

“In prose as luscious as the ribs at our beloved Flanigan’s, the story that unfolds between Mayra and Ingrid lovingly embodies the vibrant beauty of Hialeah and the Florida Everglades. Mayra is a haunting testament to the literal terror of being consumed by the very thing you’re trying to escape.”—Jennine Capó Crucet, author of Say Hello to My Little Friend