Everyone Knows You Go Home - by Natalia Sylvester (Paperback)

About the Book

"The first time Isabel meets her father-in-law, Omar, he's already dead-- an apparition appearing uninvited on her wedding day. Her husband, Martin, still unforgiving for having been abandoned by his father years ago, confesses that he never knew the old man had died. So Omar asks Isabel for the impossible: persuade Omar's family, especially his wife, Elda, to let him redeem himself. Isabel and Martin settle into married life in a Texas border town, and Omar returns each year on the celebratory Day of the Dead. Every year Isabel listens, but to the aggrieved Martin and Elda, Omar's spirit remains invisible. Through his visits, Isabel gains insight into not just the truth about his disappearance and her husband's childhood but also the ways grief can eat away at love. When Martin's teenage nephew crosses the Mexican border and takes refuge in Isabel and Martin's home, questions about past and future homes, borders, and belonging arise that may finally lead to forgiveness-- and alter all their lives forever"--

Book Synopsis

An International Latino Book Award winner.

"Everyone Knows You Go Home is prescient, tackling issues of family division, the arduous journey of crossing from one country into the next, and the sacrifices we make in exchange for a better future." --Houston Chronicle

The first time Isabel meets her father-in-law, Omar, he's already dead--an apparition appearing uninvited on her wedding day. Her husband, Martin, still unforgiving for having been abandoned by his father years ago, confesses that he never knew the old man had died. So Omar asks Isabel for the impossible: persuade Omar's family--especially his wife, Elda--to let him redeem himself.

Isabel and Martin settle into married life in a Texas border town, and Omar returns each year on the celebratory Day of the Dead. Every year Isabel listens, but to the aggrieved Martin and Elda, Omar's spirit remains invisible. Through his visits, Isabel gains insight into not just the truth about his disappearance and her husband's childhood but also the ways grief can eat away at love. When Martin's teenage nephew crosses the Mexican border and takes refuge in Isabel and Martin's home, questions about past and future homes, borders, and belonging arise that may finally lead to forgiveness--and alter all their lives forever.

Review Quotes

"Sylvester memorably depicts the precarious existence and difficult choices that face undocumented immigrants to America." --Publishers Weekly

"Fans of Alice Hoffman and Polly Samson will appreciate [Sylvester's] ability to blend the supernatural with the humdrum, imbuing each character in this droll yet tender novel with wit and warmth." --Booklist

"A forceful record of migration within a family and the dangers and triumphs of our undocumented population." --Kirkus Reviews

"Expertly narrated, this timely multigenerational immigrant story explores the unique challenges families face while examining the corrosiveness of secrets and the redemptive power of forgiveness. Highly recommended." --Library Journal (starred review)

"Her characters are marked by happenstance and ignorance, a testament to the devastating effects arbitrary laws can have on the lives of everyday people." --Village Voice

"Everyone Knows You Go Home is a touching portrait of a family willing to risk everything for a better life, and what happens when they do." --Refinery29

"Full of grayscale moralities, the family's tale is one of difficult choices and the consequences that follow." --Harper's Bazaar

"Natalia Sylvester has carved out a place between the living and the dead that will instantly have you hooked." --HelloGiggles

"A satisfying, resonant ending concludes Sylvester's emotionally insightful, multigenerational tale as the story comes full circle, beautifully complete." --Lone Star Literary

"Everyone Knows You Go Home is a timely, necessary book that challenges its readers by asking: How much empathy can we offer to those whose stories the world has silenced?" --The Rumpus

"Natalia Sylvester began writing her latest book more than five years ago, well before Donald Trump took office with a promise to crack down on illegal immigration, well before the current crisis of asylum-seeking families being separated at the border. Yet, in many ways, Everyone Knows You Go Home is prescient, tackling issues of family division, the arduous journey of crossing from one country into the next, and the sacrifices we make in exchange for a better future." --Houston Chronicle

"What Sylvester illustrates goes beyond the danger of crossing the border. The novel acknowledges the complexities of birthplace and identity." --San Antonio Current

"Sylvester's absorbing novel starts with a couple named Martin and Isabel, who are visited on their wedding day by the spirit of the groom's dead father. Over the years, this spirit returns to share family secrets as Martin and Isabel build their own lives while caring for an undocumented nephew. It's a wide-ranging family saga that explores trauma, joy, and redemption." --Texas Observer

"A beautifully written story that illuminates the complex allegiances of family and the costs of denying the past for the exigencies of the present. With great warmth, humor, and wisdom, Natalia Sylvester brings the border to vivid life in this timeless journey deep inside the human heart." --Cristina García, author of Here in Berlin and Dreaming in Cuban

"Everyone Knows You Go Home is a deeply satisfying read, beautifully illustrating how love and obligation shape our lives and give them meaning. Life on the borderlands--between Texas and Mexico, news reports and real life, history and memory, the living and the dead--creates an immersive world for exploring the mysteries that we all are to each other, bound as we may be by shared blood, shared love, and shared grief." --ire'ne lara silva, author of flesh to bone

"I was charmed by this novel from the start, and when a character from the afterlife shows up--and when no one in the book thinks it unusual or strange--I was smitten. This is the tangled history of one family's past and present both here and beyond. Sylvester's gift is that she's able to infuse it, in more ways than one, with extraordinary spirit and life." --Cristina Henríquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans

"Everyone Knows You Go Home is a rich and moving story of love and secrets. Natalia Sylvester beautifully explores borders both physical and metaphysical." --Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty and No One is Here Except All of Us

"Sylvester charms with a family saga that is both epic and intimate in scope, delivering an unforgettable tale of the boundless power of love and redemption. Everyone Knows You Go Home is a dreamy spell of a novel, a new window into the magic and mystery of the natural world and beyond." --Patricia Engel, author of The Veins of the Ocean and Vida, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year