A heartbreaking love story about two immigrants and their families; a brave new novel that gives voice to millions of Americans.
Set in Redwood Apartments, a two-story cinderblock complex just off a highway in Delaware, The Book of Unknown Americans is the story of the Rivera family—relocated to the U.S. after their daughter, Maribel, suffers a life-changing accident—and the Toro family—from Panama. When Maribel and Mayor Toro fall in love, it marks the beginning of a friendship between the two families, whose web of guilt and love and responsibility is at the novel’s core. Woven into their stories are the lives of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America, yielding an extraordinary reading experience that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American. Suspenseful, wry and immediate, rich in spirit and humanity, The Book of Unknown Americans is a work of rare force and originality.
