Julia Alvarez

"Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves--lines...

“[A] beguiling memoir of family and culture.”—O, The Oprah Magazine
In a story that travels beyond borders and between families, acclaimed Dominican novelist and poet Julia Alvarez reflects on the joys and burdens of love—for her parents, for her husband, and for a young Haitian boy known as Piti. In this intimate true account of a promise kept, Alvarez takes us on a journey into experiences that challenge

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The life and death of three revolutionary sisters in the Dominican Republic, told by a surviving fourth. One by one the Mirabal Sisters, as they were known, join the opposition to the Trujillo dictatorship in the 1950s, suffering imprisonment and torture while their men watch powerless. They are released, then one night their jeep is ambushed. A story based on real events by the author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

Es sobre el conflicto del arte y la realidad, el intelecto y las emociones y el acultra miento en los estados unidos y sus propias raices dominicas. La familia de mi protagonizian sus versiones de vida nerdad de yo. (Yolan de Garcia finds success with her first novel in which she made characters out of her family members and friends, but her "fictionally victimized" relatives exact revenge by telling all they know about the author, Yo).

After his family hires migrant Mexican workers to help save their farm from foreclosure, Tyler befriends the oldest daughter, but when he discovers that they may not be in the country legally, he realizes that real friendship knows no borders. La familia de Mari se encuentra a la deriva, con una gran necesidad de trabajo, pero se ve forzada a esconderse por miedo a que las autoridades los devuelvan a México y a la pobreza.La familia de Tyler lucha...

In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.

Latina novelist Alma Huebner is suffering from writer's block and is years past the completion date for yet another of her best-selling family sagas. Her husband, Richard, works for a humanitarian organization and wants her help on an AIDS assignment in the Dominican Republic. But Alma begs off joining him--her publisher is breathing down her neck. She promises to work hard and follow him a bit later. The truth is that Alma is seriously sidetracked...

After his family hires migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure, eleven-year-old Tyler befriends the oldest daughter, but when he discovers they may not be in the country legally, he realizes that real friendship knows no borders.

In the 1960s, political tension forces the Garca̕ family away from Santo Domingo and towards the Bronx. The sisters all hit their strides in America, adapting and thriving despite cultural differences, language barriers, and prejudice. But Mami and Papi are more traditional, and they have far more difficulty adjusting to their new country. Making matters worse, the girls--frequently embarrassed by their parents--find ways to rebel against them.

A too busy butterfly who spends her day hurrying and worrying finds her own "quiet place" after learning about meditation and mindfulness from a flower bud.