What is the title of your latest release?
THE HOUSE OF GARDENIAS
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
THE HOUSE OF GARDENIAS is about a teenage girl named Minerva who runs away from her abusive home and starts working as a maid for a wealthy old woman. When civil war breaks out, she discovers that her employer is the cousin of the now-reinstated despotic Viceroy—and they are being swept away into the family stronghold, la Casa de las Gardenias, to weather the worst of the civil conflict. One there, with the other members of this family, she discovers that the house is haunted… but it turns out that the bloodthirsty ghosts might not be the most monstrous things in the house.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I decided on a fantasy version of an unnamed Latin American country for a couple of reasons. One, because I wanted to write a fantasy with magic and ghosts. Two, because from the idea's very inception, it drew on different historical elements from across Latin America. And third and finally, after writing three historical novels in a row, I wanted some freedom from the historical record!
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I would certainly hang out with Minerva in real life, but Ygnacio? CERTAINLY not. He’s terrifying!
What are three words that describe your hero?
Resilient, tough, metamorphosis.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that I should never sell a book on proposal without having at least some idea of how it ends! I rewrote the ending of The House of Gardenias two or three times as a result, and struggled to nail the character arcs the way I wanted. I’m happy with the final result, but getting there was not my favorite experience!
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I generally do not edit much at all when I draft novels. I do a lot of work on outlining and sketching out the entire novel before I even write the first paragraph, and this allows me to fast draft, following that outline with delight and abandon. I did not do that with THE HOUSE OF GARDENIAS. I wrote it slowly, over the course of several years, and found myself repeatedly editing the beginning to suit different visions I had for the ending. It was a messier process than I am accustomed to. I ended up throwing out a lot of hard work!
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I don't have a specific indulgence food item, but my husband loves nice dining, and I love the time we get to spend together on date nights. Whatever we're eating, it's the fact that we're eating it together without our feral toddlers (3.5 and 1.5yo) drowning out conversation that is the indulgence!
Describe your writing space/office!
My writing space is a temple to how much I love research and writing gadgets. I have many tottering stacks of monographs for the different projects that I have on the go. My writing desk is... aesthetically ugly. It is a standing desk upon which sits a stack of encyclopedias (The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, Vol. 1-3, if you were wondering) to lift my laptop or BYOK, a distraction-free writing device, to eye-level. Beneath the standing desk is, believe it or not, a walking treadmill. I walk and write at the same time. This is relatively new to me; this past summer I read an interview with Ann Patchett in which she talked about her treadmill desk, and I simply had to try it. Reader, it has revolutionized my process!
Who is an author you admire?
I deeply admire Katherine Arden. I adore her prose and her ability to weave historical research into arresting tales. Six years ago, I finished reading The Winter of the Witch, the conclusion of the Winternight trilogy. I closed the book, quite literally flung myself on my bed, and burst into tears. When my husband asked what was wrong, I wailed: "I'll never write something that good!" I am happy to report that I sat back up from the depths of despair and have been trying to write something That Good ever since.
Is there a book that changed your life?
The book that changed my life is a deep cut: MARA, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, is a historical novel set in ancient Egypt at the end of the reign of Hatshepsut that I read when I was 10 that influenced both personally and artistically. Personally, it was the first novel I had ever read that had a bilingual main character, and that girl's bilingualism was her superpower as a spy, rather than something that Othered her or made her strange, as I felt mine did. It transformed how I thought of my own ability to speak two languages. Artistically, it is full of court intrigue, romance, politics, and double-crossing, which are elements I come back to again and again when I write fantasy.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I signed with my agent in December 2017 and she and I worked on two YA manuscripts that died on submission. When I received one of the last rejections on an R&R (revise and resubmit, one that I had spent months and months on!) that second manuscript, I was furious. I turned around and wrote a haunted house novel that was for me and me alone. That book became The Hacienda, and it sold in a five-house auction in a major deal. I remember precisely where I was sitting when all the bids had come in–on the couch in my itsy bitsy Brooklyn studio, heart pounding as I read the offers. I immediately burst into tears. After so much rejection, finally, I was going to be published.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love immersive fantasy! Give me court intrigue, detailed worldbuilding, and a forbidden romance and I'm happy as can be. But really, a book in any genre that has intense, unrequited yearning will make my day.
What’s your favorite movie?
Obviously The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and obviously the extended edition. It's my comfort rewatch. But I've also been rewatching a lot of childhood classics with my three-year-old and have fallen in love anew with My Neighbor Totoro.
What is your favorite season?
Autumn! I feel myself come alive again on the first crisp day of September. When the leaves are brilliant and mornings are chilly and foggy, I am at my creative best. And you can't beat the perfect crossover of Latinx Heritage Month and spooky season! But then again, I'm a November Scorpio, so I'm perhaps a bit biased about fall being the best.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I'm pretty lowkey about my birthday. A homemade cake and my favorite people gathered around a table is the ultimate way to celebrate (though now that I'm the mom of two toddlers, I wouldn't say no to a massage and some time alone, haha!).
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I had never watched Over the Garden Wall before this year and I'm absolutely loving it. My husband and I are only watching a few episodes at a time to make it last as long as we can! As for books, a friend recently recommended A LONG FATAL LOVE CHASE by Louisa May Alcott, a posthumously published Gothic thriller, and I have made it my entire personality. Father Ignatius lives rent-free in my head.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I love my family's Mexican food, especially my grandma's puerco con calavasa recipe. When I eat out, my favorite places are restaurants that serve food I wouldn't dare to tackle at home. For example: sushi!
What do you do when you have free time?
Free time is a finite resource as a creative mom of a 3.5 and 1.5 year old, but I love to spend it drawing and painting and taking flamenco classes.
What can readers expect from you next?
I can't say much yet, but I can hint that I'm trying my hand at some new genres very soon!
A stunning YA debut from gothic master Isabel Cañas, bestselling author of The Hacienda, Vampires of El Norte, and The Possession of Alba Díaz.
Despite near-constant political violence in the city and an abusive father at home, Minerva Treviño’s cowardice has kept her alive for sixteen years. But even she has a limit. Unable to take another beating or miss another meal, Minerva musters enough courage to flee to a neighborhood full of rich people loyal to the deposed fascist viceroy and take a job as lady’s maid to a wealthy widow.
Minerva is happy serving Encarnación del Valle. She has food in her belly and the safety of a warm house lit by magical chispa. Why should she care who runs the country or how her employer affords the magic?
When the viceroy sweeps back into power, Encarnación gleefully retreats to the family’s mountainside estate to wait out the inevitable slaughter of the viceroy’s enemies—and of course Minerva may join her. At la Casa de las Gardenias, Minerva is surrounded by more experienced servants and the cruel, scheming del Valles. But the living residents of the house are the least of anyone’s worries, and Minerva quickly discovers that the ancient estate is home to forces far older and more bloodthirsty than anything she could have imagined.
Horror | Young Adult Fantasy [ Dutton Books for Young Readers, On Sale: September 29, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780593620410 / eISBN: 9780593620427 ]
Isabel Cañas is a Mexican-American speculative fiction writer. After having lived in Mexico, Scotland, Egypt, and Turkey, among other places, she has settled (for now) in New York City, where she works on her PhD dissertation in medieval Islamic literature and writes fiction inspired by her research and her heritage.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2026