Book Description

See my official book trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddkMzHq8s2U Visit my Website: http://www.iantremblay.com THE ILLEGAL AND THE REFUGEE - An American Love Story is a tale of tragedy and triumph that highlights the difficulties and the hardships of Latino immigration to the United States. With roots set deep in Mexico and Cuba, it is a story about letting go of the past, the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity and of deep, unconditional love. Maria Torres is a bright university student from Mexico City and a committed social activist who becomes gravely concerned when Eduardo the love of her life decides to cross into the United States illegally and then vanishes from the face of the earth. She decides to retrace his footsteps and survives a treacherous and traumatic crossing of the Arizona desert, ending up in East Los Angeles, an illegal immigrant and desperate to find him. In Havana, Cuba, Ernesto Rodriguez dreams of fleeing his hermetic and state controlled country with the love of his life Yaneti to the United States. He succeeds in sending her off first and then she is never heard from again. He decides to follow her trail and barely survives a life-threatening and harrowing sea crossing, washing up confused and half-naked on a Florida beach, legally a refugee, and determined to find her. As Maria and Ernesto get busy adapting to their new circumstances in the United States and the search for their missing loved ones, a natural catastrophe elsewhere in the world sets the stage for their accidental encounter in Miami, putting into place, the final pieces, of their incredible journey. “He was out for a few hours–he wasn’t sure for how long, but when he came to, he was dehydrated and his lips were cracked and he felt terrible. It was late afternoon and the sun was lower in the sky. He lifted his head. His face was caked with sand, and he sat up and spit the sand out of his mouth and looked around with bewildered eyes. He slowly got up and saw that in front of him and to each side were tall apartment buildings. It was quiet; no one was around. For a few minutes he just stood there, wobbly and confused and unable to process his thoughts clearly. He had no idea where he was and he realized that all he had on was his underwear. He hesitantly put one foot forward and then another. His feet felt heavy, and every movement he made hurt him somewhere. He made his way in the direction of the nearest building and that’s when he saw it–a shape that stopped him dead in his tracks, fluttering lightly in the late afternoon breeze. It was an American flag, and to Ernesto it was the most beautiful thing he had seen in his entire life. He just looked at it and smiled, and a tear rolled down one of his cheeks. He knew then that he had made it. He was in America."