America's Dream

America’s Dream is the Fifth selection in the inaugural launch of RAYO’s master comtemporary classic series. Told with a wry sense of humor, this novel explores issues associated with becoming an American, and exemplifies the spirit of RAYO, every Hispanic American, and any other immigrant who has dared to realize the American dream.

América 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 fourteen-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with América. So when América 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 América 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.