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Title details for We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - Available

We Never Asked for Wings

A Novel

by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Emma Bering
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers comes her much-anticipated new novel about young love, hard choices, and hope against all odds.
 
For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children—Alex, fifteen, and Luna, just six—in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life.
 
Navigating this new terrain is challenging for Letty, especially as Luna desperately misses her grandparents and Alex, who is falling in love with a classmate, is unwilling to give his mother a chance. Letty comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives, but one wrong move could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and her family’s fragile hopes for the future.
 
Vanessa Diffenbaugh blends gorgeous prose with compelling themes of motherhood, undocumented immigration, and the American Dream in a powerful and prescient story about family.
Praise for We Never Asked for Wings
 
“Deftly blends family conflict with reassurance: Wings is like Parenthood with class and immigration issues added for gravitas.”—People (Book of the Week)
 
“This poignant story will stay in readers’ hearts long after the last page. . . . Diffenbaugh weaves in the plight of undocumented immigrants to her tale of first- and second-generation Americans struggling to make their way in America. Moving without being maudlin, this story avoids the stereotypes in its stark portrayal of mothers who just want the best for their children.”—RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)
 
“Diffenbaugh is a storyteller of the highest order: her simple but poetic prose makes even this most classically American story sing with a special kind of vulnerable beauty.”—Bustle
 
“[A] gripping, heartfelt exploration of a mother’s love, resilience and redemption.”—Family Circle
 
“Satisfying storytelling . . . Diffenbaugh delivers a heartwarming journey that mixes redemption and optimistic insight [and] confirms her gift for creating shrewd, sympathetic charmers.”—Kirkus Reviews

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 18, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781101888643
      • File size: 336676 KB
      • Duration: 11:41:24

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrators Emma Bering and Robbie Daymond are the best part of this novel, which is unrealistic and abounds with stereotypes. Letty Espinosa had her first baby as a teenager, and her parents raised her children while she worked as a bartender. Things drastically change when her parents suddenly return to Mexico and Letty, at age 33, must care for her kids for the first time. While Bering is ideal as flighty, irresponsible Letty and spirited 6-year-old Luna, she's flawless as Latino parents Maria Elena and Enrique. Daymond inhabits 15-year-old Alex as he copes with school, meets his absent dad, and protects his fragile girlfriend. Daymond and Bering deftly convey compassion for the poor and for immigrants--legal and illegal. However, the novel's contrived conclusion will disappoint many listeners. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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