America 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 14-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with her. So when America is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester County, New York, she takes it as a sign that a door to escape has been opened.Yet even as America revels in the comparative luxury of her new life, daring to care about a man other than Correa, she is faced with dramatic proof that no matter what she does, she can't get away from her past.

America's Dream: Novel, A

Literature & Fiction

Esmeralda Santiago

Literary

Rayo

A simultaneous Spanish-language edition, originally translated for Vintage by Nina Torres-Vidal In her new memior, the acclaimed author of When I Was Puerto Rican continues the riveting chronicle of her life. "Negi," as Santiago's family affectionately calls her, leaves rural Macun in 1961 to live in a three-bedroom tenement apartment with seven siblings, and inquisitive grandmother, and a strict mother who won't allow her to date. At thirteen, Negi yearns for her own bed, for privacy, and her father, who remains in Puerto Rico. Translating for Mami at the welfare office in the morning, starring as Cleopatra at New York's Performing Arts High School in the afternoon, and dancing salsa all night, she also seeks to find balance between being an American and Puerto Rican. When Negi defies her mother by going on a series of dates, she finds that independence brings challenges. At once a universally poignant coming-of-age tale and a heartfelt immigrant's story, Almost a Woman is Santiago's triumphant journey into womanhood.

Casi una mujer

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Vintage Espanol

When I Was Puerto Rican: A Memoir (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)

Da Capo Press

El amante turco (The Turkish Lover)

Arts & Literature

Recorded Books, Inc. and Blackstone Publishing

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Books by Esmeralda Santiago