Speak of It

A Memoir

By: Marcos McPeek Villatoro

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Paperback | 5 May 2026

At a Glance

Paperback
224 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.6 x 14.0 x 1.6

Paperback

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In the face of clashing family backgrounds and sexual abuse as a child, Marcos's extraordinary memoir maps his journey through self-discovery, from his Salvadoran-Appalachian parentage to his success as a writer, his mental illness, and his healing in an extraordinary memoir.

In Speak of It, Marcos McPeek Villatoro explores how he channeled his Latino roots to come to terms with the childhood sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a relative in his home in Appalachia, and he recounts his ensuing struggle with trauma and mental illness.

The son of a Salvadoran mother and a Scotch Irish father, Marcos spent much of his life struggling to break away from the trauma he experienced in childhood by striving to get closer to his Salvadoran heritage. His journey includes steeping himself in the Spanish language and Latin American literature, especially the work of Gabriel García Marquez; a stint in Nicaragua with Witness for Peace, followed by missionary work in Guatemala; and social-justice work with Mexican migrant farmworkers in Alabama. Each experience brought him closer to understanding where he came from and to forging an identity as a whole self in the wake of trauma.

Riveting, horrifying, moving, and inspiring, Speak of It is a testament to the healing power of language, books, and identity.

Industry Reviews

"A neat, Hitchcockian thriller. . . . Let's hope there are real FBI agents as brilliant as Romilia Chacon." (Washington Post [for A Venom Beneath the Skin]) "Rich in history and myth, rich in setting, rich in character. This book reminded me of The Da Vinci Code. It is a pleasure from start to finish." -T. Jefferson Parker, Edgar Award-winning author of A Thousand Steps [for Minos]. "Scintillating, densely plotted. . . . Villatoro creates a compelling, dramatic balance." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) [for Minos] "Charles Dickens, or more recently Joyce Carol Oates and Margaret Atwood, have used the crime novel to eloquently express themselves. . . . Add to that chorus of writers the name . . . Marcos McPeek Villatoro." -Los Angeles Times Book Review [for Home Killings]

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