Author Talk with Karla Montalván

The Sun and All the Other Stars is a sweeping literary romance that spans centuries, cultures, and identities. Marisol Varela, a Cuban American muralist living in present-day Madrid, is recovering from a broken engagement and a family legacy that suggests the women in her lineage are destined to lose love. Hoping to understand, and escape, this inheritance she undergoes past life regression therapy and relives three former lives: a defiant female painter in 1482 Florence, a resourceful woman entangled in espionage during the Spanish Inquisition, and a gay man navigating love and loss in 1980s SoHo amid the AIDS crisis. 

Across time, one presence recurs: Dario, an Italian poet whose connection to Marisol transcends centuries. As their lives intertwine, Marisol must confront whether love is governed by fate, choice, or something more complex. Published in English and Spanish, this genre-blending novel explores immigration, gender, queerness, and art as survival, offering an emotionally resonant, book club– ready story with strong crossover appeal.

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Host or Publisher Gwinnett County Public Library