Jan ACW Outside Links: Book Author Publisher
About the Book:
Dream Things True
By Marie Marquardt
Published by St Martin’s Griffin Press
ISBN-13: 978-1250070456
Evan and Alma have spent fifteen years living in the same town, connected in a dozen different ways but also living worlds apart — until the day he jumps into her dad’s truck and slams on the brakes.
The nephew of a senator, Evan seems to have it all – except a functional family. Alma has lived in Georgia since she was two, surrounded by a large (sometimes smothering) Mexican family. They both want out of this town. His one-way ticket is soccer; hers is academic success.
When they fall in love, they fall hard, trying to ignore their differences. Then Immigration and Customs Enforcement begins raids in their town, and Alma knows that she needs to share her secret. But how will she tell her country-club boyfriend that she and almost everyone she’s close to are undocumented immigrants?
What follows is a beautiful, nuanced exploration of the complications of immigration, young love, defying one’s family, and facing a tangled bureaucracy that threatens to completely upend two young lives. This page-turning debut asks tough questions, reminding us that love is more powerful than fear.
About the Author:
Marie Marquardt
Marie Marquardt is a college professor who lives with her husband, four kids, a dog, and a bearded dragon in a very busy household in Decatur, Georgia. Dream Things True is her first book of Young Adult fiction, and it was inspired by her work with Mexican immigrants in Georgia.
Since the late 1990s, she has been doing research and advocacy with immigrants from Mexico, and has witnessed–on both sides of the border–the effects of a broken immigration system. She also has co-authored and contributed chapters to several non-fiction books on immigration. Currently, she has the honor of working with an amazing group of volunteers to run El Refugio, a non-profit that offers temporary lodging and support to the loved ones of detained immigrants.
As a part of this work, she regularly visits with detained immigrants at one of the largest detention centers in the United States (which happens to be in Southwest Georgia). They assist them as they prepare for deportation. This work is heartbreaking, but it also reminds her every day that love is more powerful than fear.