July 2021 Book of the Month
America’s Dream
By: Esmeralda Santiago
Published by: HarperCollins Publishers/Harper Perennial
ISBN 13: 978-0063074132
SYNOPSIS:
“Lyrical [and] haunting, América’s liberating epiphany will have readers . . . on their feet and cheering.” — Washington Post Deftly written and fiercely resilient, América’s Dream explores the ever-shifting definition of what it means to be American and exemplifies the spirit of every immigrant who has dared to realize the American dream. América Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on Vieques, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, cleaning up after wealthy foreigners who don’t look her in the eye. Her alcoholic mother resents her; her married boyfriend, Correa, beats her; and their fourteen-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with América. So when América is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester, New York, she takes it as a sign to finally make the escape she’s been longing for. Yet, even as América revels in the comparative luxury of her new life—daring to care about a man other than Correa—she is faced with the disquieting realization that no matter what she does, she can never really escape her past.BIO:
Esmeralda Santiago is the author of the memoirs When I Was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman, which she adapted into a Peabody Award–winning film for PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre, and The Turkish Lover; the novel América’s Dream; and a children’s book, A Doll for Navidades. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and House & Garden, among other publications, and on NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she lives in New York.
Author webpage: https://www.esmeraldasantiago.com/
Twitter (author): @esmo
(publisher): @harperperennial @harpercollins
Infinite Country
By: Patricia Engel
Published by: Simon & Schuster / Avid Reader Press
ISBN 13: 978-1982159467
SYNOPSIS:
BIO:
Patricia Engel is the author of Infinite Country, a New York Times Bestseller, Reese’s Book Club pick, Esquire Book Club and Book of the Month Club pick, Indie Next pick, Amazon Best Book of the Month, and more. Her other books include The Veins of the Ocean, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris, winner of the International Latino Book Award; and Vida, a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway and Young Lions Fiction Awards, New York Times Notable Book, and winner of Colombia’s national book award, the Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her stories appear in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and elsewhere. Born to Colombian parents, Patricia teaches creative writing at the University of Miami.Author webpage: https://patriciaengel.com/
Twitter: @patricia_engel
(publishers) @AvidReaderPress