Music has slowly become more and more central to my writing journey. While I can’t write at all unless I am surrounded by complete silence (or the odd white noise), I have found now that I love connecting to my stories through music. For my debut novel DAUGHTER OF FIRE, I didn’t make a playlist until I was finished writing the book, and the purpose was to complement a list of book club questions and make it more immersive to the readers.
I didn’t expect to fall in love with the process of matching songs to the themes, plot and characters. That is why I began my playlist for THE OTHER MOCTEZUMA GIRLS a lot earlier, probably halfway through writing the book (which took many years). I found that music helped me to figure things out when I was feeling stuck, which happened all the time!
The novel has two points of view. There’s the perspective of Tecuichpoch, who was the last empress of the Mexica at the time of the Spanish Conquest and is writing down her memoirs before her death, and also the perspective from her daughter Isabel Cano, who embarks on a quest to find the hidden chapters of this memoir across the valley of Mexico. Hence, some of the songs relate more to one of the characters and some to the other.
I Was Here by Beyoncé is incredibly moving to me, the power in her voice and the lyrics, “when I leave this world, I’ll leave something to remember, so they won’t forget. I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here.” This is Tecuichpoch to me, standing firm like the empress she is, despite everything she has lived through, ensuring that her legacy never dies.
Saturn by SZA and Paradise by Coldplay are two of those songs that will leave you feeling like you’ve drifted through a dream, until you realize the lyrics are describing a nightmare. I feel like these songs related a lot to both my characters. Tecuichpoch, who lived through the Spanish Conquest, would’ve asked herself these questions, would’ve had these thoughts, “This can’t be life. If there’s a point to losing love, repeating pain, it’s all the same, I hate this place.” Similarly, in Paradise we hear, “Life goes on, it gets so heavy, the wheel breaks the butterfly, every tear a waterfall.” Tecuichpoch lived through tremendous loss and anguish. Her daughter Isabel Cano is likewise grieving her mother, which is one of the motivators to leave home and embark on her quest to find the story her mother has left behind for her.
La Llorona by Chavela Vargas, is a Mexican folk song based on the legend of La Llorona, the “Weeping Woman,” a malignant feminine spirit that is said to live near bodies of water, mourning the children she drowned in a fit of revenge against her unfaithful husband. However, there are so many iterations of her story, which dates back to the sixteenth century and the time my novel is based. La Llorona makes an appearance in my book, as well as other prominent female figures in Mexican mythology and history. I feel that all of these women have shaped our identity and psyche for the last five hundred years.
Sigueme by Xiuhtezcatl & Renata Flores is probably my favorite song on the playlist, and one of my favorite songs of 2025. It perfectly captures the sense of adventure, rebellion, and pride that Isabel Cano carries within her, and the longing she has to return to her mother who has passed away. Translated from Spanish, some of the lyrics say, “I want to go back to where we’re from. We know what belongs to us. Follow me to where we’re going, we hold the map on our hands.” I also adore that it contains lyrics in Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica. Every time I hear it, I cannot help but dance and feel a knot in my throat at the same time.
Hasta La Raiz by Natalia Lafourcade is a beautiful song that makes me cry almost every time I listen to it. It speaks to the depth of love, how distance and time cannot truly erase it. That you can protect that love within you and carry it with you. Although the song reminds me a lot of the love the Isabel has for her mother, and vice versa, Lafourcade wrote the song because of her love of Mexico, to connect to her country, her people and her roots, which are the same feelings I had as I wrote this novel. I hope you will love the songs and the novel!
The full playlist, which includes 14 songs is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0jV8vIQCu8G4yDMkNZwuNY?si=aaa822e649a64cd1
A Novel
In sixteenth-century Mexico, a fearless young woman strives to uncover the secrets her mother kept as the last Aztec empress in a sweeping historical epic by the author of Daughter of Fire.
Tenochtitlan, 1551. Thirty years after the Spanish Conquest destroyed everything she loved, the last Aztec empress has passed and left behind a pristine yet tenuous legacy for her children. As her last will and testament is read out, her daughter Isabel suspects that another account of her mother’s life may exist, hidden away, chapter by chapter, in the Valley of Mexico. Following each clue, Isabel is determined to find out who her mother really was and to discover the secrets she buried in order to survive.
Joined by her siblings and a handsome young cook named Juan, Isabel embarks on a perilous journey to piece together the past—a journey that will force the party to brave the brutal viceroyal court, face fearsome legends in mystical chinampas, and trek through desert, fire, and snow. As Isabel’s feelings for Juan grow, she confronts everything she thought she knew about her Spanish father, her empress mother, and herself. Facing everything from the tunnels of ancient pyramids to the summit of an active volcano, Isabel will meet every challenge to fulfill an epic quest for the truth.
Fiction Literary [ Amazon Crossing, On Sale: February 24, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662532504 / eISBN: 9781662532498 ]
Sofia is a Mexican writer. She spent her childhood and adolescence in Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. She completed her undergraduate and doctorate degrees in psychology at the University of Queensland, in Australia.
She currently lives in the UK with her husband and son, and splits her time writing, raising her son, and working as a psychologist, supporting people with brain injuries and neurological conditions.
The best way to follow Sofia's journey is by joining her newsletter (visit her main website) or through Instagram, where she posts photos and videos of her beloved plants, travels, and general musings. From time to time, Sofia also shares her thoughts on TikTok about the latest books she's enjoyed.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2026