Sponsored by White Fox by Sara Faring, with Fierce Reads.
“A ghost story that will spook even the most hardened grown-ups.” —Entertainment Weekly. After their world-famous mother disappears under mysterious circumstances, sisters Manon and Thais are sent away from their remote Mediterranean home by their father. Lured home a decade later by the death of their father, the sisters discover their mother’s legendary last work, White Fox, a screenplay filled with enigmatic metaphors. The clues in this dark fairytale draw them deep into society’s surreal underbelly, into the twisted secrets hidden by their glittering family, to reveal the truth about their mother—and themselves.
Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!
This week’s pick is a powerful, hard-hitting YA novel that I inhaled earlier this year: We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez.
Content warning: Violence, death, assault (not detailed, but both on and off page), grief, suicidal ideation
Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña are three teens living in a small city in Guatemala. Chico lives with Pulga and his mom after his own mother’s death, and Pequeña lives with her own mother, who is close with Pulga’s mom–they consider each other cousins, even if they’re not related by blood. At the start of the book, Pequeña is pregnant, and she goes into labor. The boys head to the nearby store for Cokes and fireworks to celebrate the baby’s birth, and instead end up witnessing a violent murder. Mere days later, it becomes obvious to the three teens that it’s no longer safe for them to stay in Guatemala thanks to the violent man who is responsible for the murder the boys witnessed and Pequeña’s rape that resulted in her pregnancy. Under the cover of night they leave and head north. But the journey is perilous, especially aboard La Bestia, the train that many migrants hitch a ride on in Mexico. It’ll take all their strength, courage, and determination to make it.
You may recall some controversy surrounding American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins earlier this year. Writer Myriam Gurba does a great job summarizing why that book is harmful. While I haven’t read it personally, after reading You Are Not From Here and some reviews from writers with much more familiarity on the topic of migrants from Central America than I possess, I think it’s safe to say that this book is absolutely essential reading and the better pick. The author writes these characters with such sensitivity and vibrance.
Pulga and Pequeña share narration duties as they reveal what it’s like to grow up alongside the violence in their neighborhood, so much so that it doesn’t come entirely as a shock when they are finally forced to flee their home. As they travel north and face danger after danger, occasionally sprinkled with some small kindnesses from strangers, Sanchez knows when to focus in on their journey, when to pull back in order to make the reader feel alongside them. She has a true gift for making the reader understand the horrors without having to spell them out explicitly. This is not an easy read, but it is essential and eye-opening. Yes, it’s written for teens, but adults should absolutely read it too. While this book is not without hope, Sanchez also makes it clear that the United States is no promised land–more danger and adversity face these characters at their destination, but they’ll chance it over certain death back home. This is a powerful read that has stayed with me, and I think will linger in my mind for a long time.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Marisa Blake, which I highly recommend.
Happy reading,
Tirzah
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