Curled Up With a Good Book and a Cup of Tea

Who Should Read This:   Anyone interested in stories of different cultures and those who follow current events. A water truck, stranded in the American desert.  It is sealed from the outside to hide its secret. Inside the truck is human cargo, people who have left their lives behind in Mexico, hoping to make it across the border to America safely.  But the truck has broken down and the coyotes have stolen all of their money and the people are left to die. Among these people are Hector and his friend César.  César has the only phone that can make calls out but the signal is low and César now lies unconscious.  Hector finds one American number in the phone, a woman named AnniMac, and he knows that their survival depends on his ability to reach her.   For the next four days, Hector records messages to AnniMac, telling her about his home and life in Oaxaca, the story of his family and heritage, and how he came to be in the water truck.  ...

When Carmen Aguirre was six years old, a violent coup unseated the President of her home country Chile and replaced him with the repressive regime of General Augusto Pinochet.  Carmen, her parents, and her younger sister Ale fled the country and headed for Canada, where they carved out a suburban life dedicated to educating people about the injustices in their homeland.  Then, in 1978 the Chilean resistance put out a call for the exiled activists, including Carmen's parents, to return to Latin America and fight to give back rights to the people.  Carmen's parents took up the call and the family returned, travelling through Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, setting up safe houses, gathering intelligence and devoting their lives to the resistance.  Carmen and her sister lived double lives, spending their days as middle class school girls but privy to the inner workings of the resistance.  They lived in fear of their neighbours or friends finding out ...