The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward

I started out by thinking I would not like this novel. I was expecting a schmaltzy, fluff of a novel. That could not be further from the truth. This is a wonderful book that will challenge all your beliefs about immigration.

The story follows two main characters, Alice, a forty something woman in Texas who has everything she wants in life except a baby, and Carla, a thirteen year old girl from Honduras.

As the novel opens, Alice and her husband have just lost a baby they had hoped to adopt when the mother changes her mind and keeps the baby. How Alice copes with this is at times maddening and there were times I wanted to shake her. However, Ward does an excellent job of making Alice a very real, flawed person.

Meanwhile, the novel also follows the journey of Carla from Honduras to Texas. When Carla’s grandmother dies, Carla believes her only option is to try to reach her mother who has been working in Texas illegally and sending home money. The brilliance of this novel is the way in which Ward portrays the conditions and circumstances that lead this young girl to attempt to reach her mother in Texas.

This is a novel that will challenge your beliefs on immigration. It is impossible to read this story and not be moved by the circumstances which compel young children to attempt to reach the United States.

Buy this novel and let Ward challenge you to not remain complacent about the plight of immigrant children.

Publication date is set for January 20, 2015

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.