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by Iris Gomez (Author)
An award-winning poet and expert in US immigration and asylum law delivers a powerful novel about a daughter's attempt to sustain her family as her father struggles with his mental health.
"Lyrical, poignant, and smart, as compassionate and hopeful as it is heartbreaking...a novel you will never forget." -- Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us If she tries, Gabriela can almost remember when her father went off to work . . . when her mother wasn't struggling to undo the damage he caused . . . when a short temper didn't lead to physical violence. But Gabi cannot live in the past, not when one more outburst could jeopardize her family's future. So she trades the life of a normal Miami teenager for a career of carefully managing her father's delusions and guarding her mother's secrets. As Gabi navigates her family's twisting path of lies and revelations, relationships and loss, she finds moments of happiness in unexpected places. Ultimately Gabi must discover the strength she needs to choose what's right for her: serving her parents or a future of her own.Author Biography
Iris Gomez is an award-winning writer and nationally-recognized expert on the rights of immigrants in the United States. She is the author of two poetry collections, Housicwhissick Blue (Edwin Mellen Press, 2003) and When Comets Rained (CustomWords, 2005), which earned a prestigious national poetry prize from the University of California. Her work is widely published in a variety of literary and other periodicals. A respected public interest immigration lawyer and law school lecturer, she has represented civil rights groups and individuals in high impact cases and won professional awards for her accomplishments -- including a Las Primeras award for Latina trailblazers in Massachusetts. She has frequently been called upon to write and speak on immigration-related topics and has appeared in the media, including on the nationally televised Cristina show and Boston's celebrated bilingual late-night radio program ¡Con Salsa!
An immigrant from Cartagena, Colombia, she spent formative years in Miami, Florida and has also lived in New York City, Michigan, and throughout the Pacific Northwest. She and her family now make their home in the Boston area.
