Catalina

Published in 2024, Catalina is the debut novel of Ecuadorian American writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. It follows the title character, Catalina Ituralde, through her final year of school at Harvard University. Catalina is living as an undocumented migrant, and as graduation approaches, she must face the impending reality of her uncertain future as she simultaneously navigates Harvard’s social hierarchies, her budding sexuality, and her complex relationship with her grandparents. The novel explores the complexity of living as an undocumented person in the United States, along with themes of The Power of Controlling One’s Own Story, The Intersection of Personal Ambition and Legal Limitations, and The Search for Belonging.

This guide refers to the 2024 Penguin Random House Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of substance use, sexual content, graphic violence, death, mental illness, disordered eating, death by suicide, self-harm, gender discrimination, antigay bias, and cursing.

Plot Summary

In the summer of 2010, Catalina Ituralde, an aspiring writer, is spending the summer before her senior year at Harvard in Queens, New York, with her grandparents. She is also completing an unpaid internship at a prestigious literary magazine.