Published in 2003, Carla Trujillo’s novel What Night Brings is set in the late 1960s in a town outside San Francisco. The novel centers on Marcía Cruz, an 11-year-old Chicana girl struggling with her sexual orientation and domestic abuse amidst a larger backdrop of the Vietnam War and a crisis of faith in America.

What Night Brings is Trujillo’s first novel, but not her first published work relating to its central themes. She edited an anthology of works by lesbian Chicana writers titled Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About in 1991, and she edited another anthology, Living Chicana Theory. Trujillo also earned accolades for What Night Brings, including writing awards such as the Paterson Fiction Prize and the Latino Literary Foundation Latino Book Award. She also won the Miguel Mármol prize for bringing light to human rights issues.

What Night Brings is written in a first-person limited point of view. The reader is only privy to Marci’s thoughts and experiences. The scope of the novel is mostly limited to Marci’s home, her extended family, and locations in California. Occurring sometime in the 1960s, the Vietnam War is the main point of historical context in the novel, serving as a mirror to the violence and hopelessness Marci experiences.

Plot Summary

Marcía Cruz, or Marci, asks God to make her father, Eddie, leave and to turn her into a boy. She recalls a night in which Eddie tries to commit suicide with a hunting rifle. Throughout most of the novel, Eddie is drunk when he becomes violent, but his outbursts are otherwise arbitrary. Marci cannot remember what set off his first attack on her and Corin, her younger sister.

When Marci and her family move to a new apartment, she meets Randy, a feminine boy who lives nearby, and Raquel, a teenage neighbor who Marci develops a crush on. When Danny, Marci’s cousin, returns from the Vietnam War after losing an eye in combat, Marci accidentally sees the wound. She notices that his uninjured eye shows emotional trauma later compared to looks given by both Corin and Delia, Marci’s mother.

In her first Catholic confession, Marci panics and admits her same-sex attraction to girls. She is surprised that the priest, Father Chacón, accepts her orientation, but she assumes he mistook her for a boy. At a fundraiser, Marci hides in the church after hearing laughter from the same confession booth. She is confused to see her Uncle Tommy emerge from the booth followed by Father Chacón.

After Eddie beats Corin for refusing to eat the white of an Easter egg, Marci’s maternal grandmother, Flor, arrives to take Marci, Delia, and Corin away. Eddie strangles Flor, who pulls a knife on him. Eddie leaves, but Delia refuses to go with Flor. The girls decide to stay with their mother. Before leaving, Flor gives the girls knives. With Eddie gone, Marci and her family settle into a new routine.

Eddie’s return brings a new wave of violence. After one brutal attack, the girls flee to Tommy’s house. Delia and Eddie arrive to take the girls home, but Tommy refuses to let them go. Eddie calls him a “queer” several times, which angers Tommy to the point of violence. Seeing Eddie knocked down leads to Marci fantasizing about ways to hurt him.

After Eddie brings a woman home for drinks one night, Delia takes the girls to a bus headed for Flor’s town. On a phone call, Eddie convinces her to come home. Marci and Corin see Eddie at a local bar with the same woman days later. Marci takes photos of Eddie with the woman. When she shows the photos to Tommy, Marci also confesses that she saw him in the booth with Chacón; this upsets Tommy, and he keeps the photos.

Tommy’s wife sends the photos to Delia. She is furious that Marci didn’t tell her about Eddie’s affair and begins to slap Marci. Eddie arrives home, and an argument between him and Delia turns violent. As he attacks her, Marci intervenes, and Eddie strikes her. Corin emerges from the hallway with Eddie’s rifle and shoots him. Eddie survives. As police arrive, Marci and Corin flee the scene and make their way to the bus station.

Flor takes Marci and Corin in. Delia tells the police that the shooting was an accident, but she and Eddie don’t try to bring the girls home. Marci makes a new female friend, Robbie, who is also attracted to girls. They hold hands, and Marci shares her first kiss with Robbie.