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The Roundtable

Be careful what you don't wish for: Quiara Alegía Hudes' debut novel "The White Hot"

By Sarah LaDuke

Published December 18, 2025 at 11:12 AM EST

Book cover for "The White Hot" by Quiara Alegría Hudes

Quiara Alegría Hudes is the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright of “Water by the Spoonful” and the musical “In the Heights,” which won the Tony Award for Best Musical, and which she adapted for the screen. Her memoir, “My Broken Language,” was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Cut, The Nation, and American Theater Magazine.

In her debut novel “The White Hot,” published last month by One World, April Soto writes a letter to her 18 year-old daughter, Noelle, explaining what happened - and why - she abandoned her 10 years prior.

April recounts for her daughter the events that bubbled for generations and boiled over causing her to flea everything she knows and what happened in the days immediately following her departure.

"The White Hot" is just that - searing and specific. Exploratory, exciting, and deeply human.

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The Roundtable motherhood quiara alegría hudes abandonment seek journey self-discovery self-loathing self-acceptance domestic domestic violence

Sarah LaDuke

Sarah has worked in public radio since 2006. She grew up in Saranac Lake, New York where she worked part-time at Pendragon Theatre all through high school and college. She graduated from UAlbany in 2006 with a BA in English and started at WAMC a few weeks later as a part-time board-op in the control room. Through a series of offered and seized opportunities she is now the Senior Contributing Producer of The Roundtable and Producer of The Book Show. During the main thrust of the Covid-19 pandemic shut-down, Sarah hosted a live Instagram interview program "A Face for Radio Video Series." On it, Sarah spoke with actors, musicians, comedians, and artists about the creative activities they were accomplishing and/or missing. She is on the board of WAM Theatre and lives in Albany, New York with her husband, Paul, and their dog, Doritos.

See stories by Sarah LaDuke

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