The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega.

Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S.

YA)Ī Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart. With this spellbinding debut, Meldrum marks herself as an author to watch. A markedly intelligent offering mixing lush descriptions of plants, history, science and religion, this should surely spark interest among a wide array of readers. Though Aslaug’s situation is hardly conventional, the author does a spectacular job of making the unbelievable credible. As the narrative moves between her trial for murder in the present and the past that led up to it, the Helligs’ shocking truth is slowly revealed. Alone and frightened, she goes to stay with her estranged aunt and cousins until their suspicious demise. When Maren dies suddenly, Aslaug’s world shatters. Though extremely knowledgeable about the local flora and other bookish pursuits, Aslaug is veritably clueless in social situations. Locked away from the world behind heavy drapes in a house with no mirrors, Aslaug Hellig grew up with her intelligent and overbearing mother Maren, who had told her that she was the product of immaculate conception. The haunting tale of one exceptionally disturbed family unfolds in this gripping page-turner.

Madapple by Christina Meldrum