Mother Tongue - by Demetria Martinez (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"It is a great beauty of a book, and I am so proud of you for standing with and for the disappeared. A sister, a lover, a witness."
--Alice Walker

Mary is nineteen and living alone in Albuquerque. Adrift in the wake of her mother's death, she longs for something meaningful to take her over. Then José Luis enters her life. A refugee from El Salvador and its bloody civil war, José has been smuggled to the United States as part of the sanctuary movement.

Mary cannot help but fall in love with the movement and the man. And little by little, she begins to reveal to José Luis the part of herself she has never known. . . .

"A book that becomes more timely every day, in our present political climate, and deserves the widest possible audience for its beautiful prose and humanitarian heart."
--Barbara Kingsolver

"Demetria Martínez has pulled out all the stops: here is truth to arouse any hardened heart; here is the 'insanity' of a woman in love calling forth a revolutionary lucidity. Read it. Get angry. And act."
--Luis J. Rodríguez, Author of Always Running

From the Back Cover

Mary is nineteen and living alone in Albuquerque. Adrift in the wake of her mother's death, she longs for something meaningful to take her over. Vulnerable to love and game for anything, Mary knows she has found the other part of herself when Jose Luis enters her life. A refugee from El Salvador and its vicious and bloody civil war, Jose Luis has been smuggled to the United States as part of the sanctuary movement that is attempting to expose the plight of thousands of citizens being harassed, tortured, and disappeared by a United States-supported military government. Mary cannot help but fall in love with the movement and the man who represents it for her - his strength, his sadness, and the life he has left behind. And little by little, she begins to reveal to Jose Luis the hope that always lives in love. Though violent times conspire against Mary's dreams, she is about to lay claim to a part of herself she has never known.

About the Author

Demetria Martinez is the author of the widely translated novel Mother Tongue, which won a Western States Book Award for Fiction. Martinez also wrote The Block Captain's Daughter, which won an American Book Award and the International Latino Book Award for best Latino Focused Fiction. She co-authored an ebook with former Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris, These People Want to Work: Immigration Reform. Her collection of autobiographical essays, Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana, includes columns that originally appeared in the National Catholic Reporter. In addition to writing, she is also an activist, creativity coach, and journalist based in New Mexico.