Border Child
Publisher Nan A. Talese Books/Knopf
For Héctor and Lilia, pursuit of the American Dream became every parent’s worst fear when their infant daughter vanished as she and Lilia crossed from Mexico to the United States—now they must try to get her back. With great empathy and a keen awareness of current events, Michel Stone delivers a novel of surpassing sensitivity and heart.
Young lovers Héctor and Lilia dreamed of a brighter future for their family in the United States. Héctor left Mexico first, to secure work and housing, but when Lilia, desperate to be with Héctor, impetuously crossed the border with their infant daughter, Alejandra, mother and child were separated. Alejandra disappeared. Now, four years later, the family finally has a chance to reunite, but the trauma of the past may well be permanent.
Back in their sleepy hometown of Puerto Isadore, Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, the couple enjoys a semblance of normal life, with a toddler son and another baby on the way. Then they receive an unexpected tip that might lead them to Alejandra, and both agree they must seize this chance, whatever the cost. Working increasingly illegal jobs to earn money for his journey north, Héctor seeks more information about his long-absent daughter. Meanwhile, a bedridden Lilia awaits the birth of their third child, but cannot keep herself from reliving the worst mistakes of her past. In luminous, compassionate prose, Michel Stone drops readers into the whirlwind of the contemporary immigrant experience, where a marriage is strained to the breaking point by the consequences of wanting more for the next generation.
“Border Child is an important and timely must-read! Michel Stone writes with confident authority about the heart wrenching experiences of a young Mexican couple desperately seeking their child lost at the border. As the reader journeys with them a deeper, meaningful appreciation of their culture, decisions and humanity takes root in our heart. Border Child is a cross-cultural tour de force.”
—Mary Alice Monroe, author of A Lowcountry Wedding
“Michel Stone has written a deeply moving tale that delivers a hefty emotional punch. Border Child is a compassionate, beautiful novel.”
—Ron Rash, author of Serena
“Border Child, the much anticipated sequel to The Iguana Trees, does not disappoint. It takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to tell the heartbreaking story of a little girl lost. Michel Stone captures the rich textured voices of her characters on both sides of the border due to her boundless understanding of that most universal emotion–love. Unafraid to ask the hard questions, Border Child, explores complex family dynamics with great imagination, insight, and empathy.”
—Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
“When I read Michel Stone’s first novel, The Iguana Tree, I became a fan. She writes of the human condition in a way that brings to mind John Steinbeck. Stone’s latest novel, Border Child, is powerful and poignant as much as it is daring and timely. Stone’s gift of capturing the Hispanic culture and the dreams and disappointments of the people shine in Border Child.”
—Michael Morris, author of Man in the Blue Moon
“At a time when Mexican immigrants are being demonized or turned into nothing more than statistics, Michel Stone offers us a heartbreaking and profound story about the realities of the immigrant experience and the price that a family pays for a shot at the American Dream. Raw, painful, and illuminating, Stone delves deep into the humanity of her characters to reveal the true human cost of immigration.”
—Reyna Grande, author of The Distance Between Us
