Publisher's Synopsis
Poetry and short stories with vivid imagery and magical realism; centered on a Latin American historical/political theme. Written by the wife of an asylum applicant to her husband, offering him escape from his detention surroundings. Many were published in literary journals. In February of 2010, after 3 years seeking asylum in the U.S., Jennifer Lawson - Zepeda's husband was deported from the U.S. He fled his country for safety and applied for asylum again in Nicaragua. He was held with over thirty missing refugees from throughout the world, hidden in the bowels of the Direccion General de Migracion y Extranjeria detention center in Managua. All were held incommunicado and instructed to pay bribes if they ever wanted freedom again. Ms. Lawson-Zepeda's husband was held in complete darkness for nine days before he was located by a civil rights delegation from Panama, the Salvadoran Embassy, and the United States High Commissioner of Refugees. Jennifer Lawson - Zepeda has taken profoundly personal feelings from this experience and blended them with magical themes, historical locations and Latin American locations in her first book with stories including: a former FMLN collaborator during the Salvadoran civil war longs for one last scent of lavender as she suffers from Chagas disease; dos pericos stroll together sharing stories and friendship as one of them grieves; the death of a taxi driver haunts a lonely wife through recurring visions of him in El Salvador; a sugar cane factory in Guabajaney, Cuba burns to the ground when "el Jefe" tries to kill a leftist; and much more.
