Title: American Dirt
By: Jeanine Cummins
Published: 2020
Call #: FIC Cummins
http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=ccummins&title=american+dirt
American Dirt, an eye-opening gem among books, tells the story of fierce mother Lydia and her journey in leading her family towards what they believe to be their promise land: The United States of America. Set in the beautiful, though corrupt, Mexican city of Acapulco, Lydia and her husband, a journalist, own a quaint and beloved bookshop by the beach. Their lives, once full of happiness and tranquility, are completely turned upside down when a customer in Lydia’s bookstore, Javier, becomes aware of a cautionary article her husband writes for the local newspaper, which happens to be about him. Javier Crespo Fuentes, a close friend-turned drug lord, will stop at nothing to make Lydia and her family pay for what her husband wrote. Giving everything she has for the sake of her precious son Luca, Lydia leaves all that she knows behind in a race against time, embarking on a voyage to safety by way of La Bestia--the most perilous train ride in the world. Intense, heart-wrenching, and entertaining, this novel not only keeps the reader fully engaged in its story, but also immersed in the very real dangers that exist when in the clutches of Mexican drug cartels. Readers will find it hard to put the book down.
Blanca G. Stephens
Reference Assistant