Urban magical realism novel for fans of Haruki Murakami, Toni Morrison, and Junot Diaz

Deserted by his father at the age of four and raised by his voodoo queen mother on the fringes of Skid Row, Los Angeles street artist Virgilio Santos believes it his mission to save the down-and-outers in his neighbourhood. But when he crosses paths with Beatrice Schein, an alluring Westside art collector with an aim to promote him to the international art world, Virgilio is tempted to turn his back on his friends. That is, until he discovers that Beatrice’s father is the principal financier of organized crime in his neighbourhood with plans to tear it all down for redevelopment.

Rendered with urgent intensity, The Savior of 6th Street is a literary tour de force that confirms Orlando Ortega-Medina as one of the most original storytellers of our time.

Praise for The Savior of 6th Street

"A philosophical whodunit of the new millennium that is both elegy and prayer, The Savior of Sixth Street proves that Ortega-Medina is as much an artist as his young protagonist. Read this book!" (Lisa See, author of The Island of Sea Women, Shanghai Girls, and The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane)

"Gritty and unexpected...The Savior of 6th Street is Orlando Ortega-Medina's lucid and engrossing new novel about a sinewy young man growing up in Los Angeles's dark, 1980s underworld." (Foreword Reviews)

"Vibrant, poignant." (Bookmunch)