Cross-Stitch

One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2023 (The Millions)
One of the Best Books of the 2023 So Far (Chicago Review of Books)

“Needlework is often depicted as a peaceful activity: feminine, unthreatening, decorative. Yet in Jazmina Barrera’s understated and lovely debut novel, Cross-Stitch, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney, embroidery is revealed to be as quietly brutal as young womanhood, despite the shroud of innocence society often places over both.”
—The New York Times

“Reflections on youth, the passage of time, and the meaning of female friendship.…[Jazmina Barrera] blend[s] Sally Rooney-esque interpersonal chaos with a clean, graceful prose style.”
—Vogue

“Stitches, secrets, shame: When Jazmina Barrera’s first novel translated into English, Cross-Stitch, hits shelves in November, read it. Barrera stitches a female coming-of-age story together with a feminist history and theory of embroidery, and it consumed my entire day.”
—Chicago Review of Books

“In this coming-of-age novel, Barrera employs the metaphor of embroidery to convey the intricate nature of human connections…navigate[s] the tortuous terrain of regret and loss, immersing the reader in the lasting impact of collective experiences.”
—De Los

“Throughout Cross-Stitch, Barrera weaves, braids, and composes the story of the trio’s friendship into a plot so convincing and emotionally intelligent that readers may mistake it for a memoir, while seamlessly incorporating intriguing tidbits about the history of embroidery…Barrera’s prose is insightful and precise, and MacSweeney’s translation conveys a natural, conversational rhythm.”
—BookPage

“A somber book about the formative, irreplicable experiences shared between friends and the agony and bewilderment of loss.…[chronicles] adolescence and the transition into adulthood vividly and frankly.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“The multi-talented Barrera, author of the memoir Linea Nigra (2022), turns to fiction in this introspective translation from the original Spanish… Lovers of language and subtle character development will be enthralled.”
—Booklist

“A feminist, intertextual gem, Cross-Stitch considers friendship and grief alongside women’s work, musing on its serious themes with nimble grace.”
—Shelf Awareness

“Cross-Stitch is as much a novel that can satisfy the cravings of any devotee of the woman artist’s novel as it is a hopeful promise of Barrera’s range and of her innovations to come.”
—Necessary Fiction

“Jazmina Barrera has written an astonishing book, one that illuminates the mysterious, intricate, and eternal nature of female friendship. Through prose that never fails to find the profound in the particular, Barrera’s Cross-Stitch takes readers on a journey through the little private universes people make through relation to one another.”
—Chloé Cooper Jones, author of Easy Beauty 

“Never has a novel about friendship rung truer to me than this one. This is literary art at its most insightful, most tender, most wise. Cross Stitch is a soft-spoken, hyper-articulate masterpiece. ”
—John Wray, author of Gone to the Wolves

“Jazmina Barrera’s Cross-Stitch is a beautifully woven tale of friendship, coming of age, womanhood, and loss that never shies away from the complexity of grief—all while honoring the joy that is to be found in life. Masterfully written, and with a fascinating history of the art of needlework stitched throughout, here is a delicate novel in which embroidery becomes a breathtaking language unto itself. Christina MacSweeney perfectly captures Jazmina Barrera’s poetic voice in this incredibly precise and moving translation.”
—Isaac Fitzgerald, author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional

“Barrera embroiders a tender story of friendship and loss, intricately weaving the complexities of womanhood, self-discovery, and the human experiences that bind us.”
—Reyna Grande, author of A Ballad of Love and Glory

“A delicate coming-of-age story that is both elegiac and an ode to craftwork, womanhood, and friendship. Much like the characters in Cross-Stitch, Barrera and translator MacSweeney have yet again come together to craft another gift to treasure. One of my favorite reads of the year.”
—Luis Correa, Avid Bookshop (Athens, GA)

“A subtle portrait of three young friends, each on the cusp of changing and embarking on divergent paths into adulthood. Barrera seamlessly weaves their pasts and presents with writings and ruminations on embroidery, the three friends’ favorite past-time. This is a nuanced and touching story of grief, growing up, and growing apart.”
—Mira Braneck, A Room of One’s Own (Madison, WI)

“Barrera’s Ferrante-esque novel of friendship, woven within a cultural history of sewing, makes for an engrossing story, the kind that has you drawing exclamation points in the margins with abundance. I’m amazed, silenced, by the breadth of Barrera’s thinking, her manifold interests. Christina MacSweeney, returning for a third time to render Barrera’s work into English, is the only translator I want to see at the helm.”
—Spencer Ruchti, Third Place Books (Seattle, WA)

“What does it feel like to live as a young woman in an often-hostile world? How does it feel to know that sometimes even our closest friends carry secrets too heavy to share? This beautifully stitched novel models how–even if we don’t know the full shape of each other’s grief– young women can carve out spaces for themselves to re-imagine the world.”
—Anna Potter, Oblong Books (Millerton, NY)

“A richly woven tapestry of complicated lifelong friendships; Mexico City, London, Paris; Ovid’s Metamorphoses; the reading life — accentuated with an empowering history of needle craft.”
—Barbara Hall, Green Apple Books & Music (San Francisco, CA)

“A novel of friendship, literature, music, travel, and needlecraft…one of my favorite books of 2023. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a novel about female friendships and ideas.”
—Caitlin Luce Baker, Island Books (Mercer Island, WA)

“I closed the book with a new respect for needle and thread, and I might even take another stab at using them!”
—Kay Wosewick, Boswell Books (Milwaukee, WI)

Additional Resources

• “The Epistolary Friendship of a Writer and Her Translator,” in The Millions
• “Embroidery Is at the Center,” interview with Jazmina Barrera, for Shondaland
• “Jazmina Barrera on Her Novel Cross-Stitch, Spotlighting Mexican Fiction, and Making Space for Writing Within Motherhood,” in Vogue
• Cross-Stitch Reader’s Guide
• Request an Exam or Desk Copy