Esperanza is one of my best reads of 2020 already ! In one word it felt beautiful
I am glad after a long while I got to read a deep thoughtful debut book by an indie author. The narration had the essence of Paulo Coelho specially because the backdrops had the Mexican touch.
Somewhere I feel as India has a rich cultural background so does Mexico , Brazil. These countries have an unique cultural essence which somewhere I feel connected too.
Esperanza is 577 pages long book written by the author Sir Tommy Tutalo. It was an emotionally riveting read for me .
Esperanza in Spanish means Hope ! Like Monarch butterflies have to fly for thousands of miles to reach their destination , this book reached me from the USA to India to bring me happiness and hope.
While reading this book it may seem like it's a woman centric fiction but once you go further the story will unfold more evils of our world that impacts thousands of lives. With the flow of the story it touched upon few strong social evils that are hard to curb out like underground mafias of dangerous drug trafficking and illegal unlawful activities network who are misusing innocent teenagers with dreams in their eyes to transport drugs across national borders putting their lives's in risk. It put lights on the illegal immigrant situation in a nation where later on the immigrants get stuck in lifelong imprisonment of such networks, murders, child prostitution, drug and sexual abuse of young girls, etc.
The story starts with Sarita picking up three old journals of her mother Gabriela who has passed away after a lifelong struggle . As the pages started unfolding many shocking and heartbreaking details , will Sarita get answers of the questions that were always in her mind ?
Who was Elena , the reclusive man Dante living next door ? Who is her real father ? So many questions kept her in the dark all these years . How will she cope up with the answers that the old pages reveal now when the actual writer of the jounals that is her loving and protecting mother is finally gone?
She is afraid what if the words in these journals will change the truth she has lived believing all her life. The plot comes up with many twists. Gabriela is young, beautiful, a teenager of 18 years of age , innocent ,vulnerable but blinded with her American dream.
She decides to become an illegal immigrant to reach America from Mexico but what awaits her there ? What price she has to pay to safely get out of the Border patrol ? What actually compelled her to get connected to the sticky humongous web of Nada Mas , the dangerous drug trafficking network whose tentacles have reached South America and USA and how this mindless decision will destroy her life ? Read to know all these .
In search of the dream she travels all over America. In course of time she becomes more responsible caring for a bundle of joy . She risks her life tricking Nada Mas but will she get the lost dignity and peace back ? Will she be able to tell Sarita whose child is she ? It was heartbreaking to read about the sexual ordeals she went through in the hands of different people . But life presented her with a ray of hope through horrific crimes done on her whose outcome she accepted as another beautiful chance to live for .
The gradual changes seen in Dante's character and the developing bond between him and Sarita as Gabriela was kidnapped felt heart-warming. Each phase had depth. Though there were loads of characters involved but each of them were described thoroughly and had an important part to play . It may be a fiction but the messages that were inside the story were very deep , heart-warming and thoughtful as life lessons . They will inspire you to belief in yourself , become empathetic , accepting towards others and maintain hope in hard times. Definitely go for it. Though all readers have different taste in literature but I hope it will warm up your heart too.
You may check this book here : https://amzn.to/39gZYx2