The Book of Unknown Americans

"Henríquez distills the vast sea of immigrant stories into a small apartment building community in Delaware. . . . Through [her] unadorned prose, these immigrants' struggles ring clear, their voices rising above that din of political debate." USA Today
     Set in Redwood Apartments, a two-story cinderblock complex just off a highway in Delaware, The Book of Unknown Americans is the story of the Rivera family--relocating to the U.S. after their daughter, Maribel, suffers a life-changing accident--and the Toro family from Panama. When Maribel and Mayor Toro fall in love, it marks the beginning of a friendship between the two families, whose web of guilt and love and responsibility is at the novel's core. Woven into their stories are the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America, yielding an extraordinary reading experience that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American. Suspenseful, wry and immediate, rich in spirit and humanity, The Book of Unknown Americans is a work of rare force and originality.