Community & Culture
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON
TODAY • A young poet tells the unforgettable story of his harrowing
migration from El Salvador to the United States at the age of nine in this
moving, page-turning memoir hailed as “the mythic journey of our era”
(Sandra Cisneros)“A new landmark in the literature of migration, and in
nonfiction writ large.”—Francisco Cantú, author of The Line Becomes a River
Trip. My parents started using that word about a year ago—“one day, you’ll
take a trip to be with us. Like an adventure.” Javier Zamora’s adventure
is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador,
through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave
behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left
four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone amid a
group of strangers and a “coyote” hired to lead them to safety,
Javier expects his trip to last two short weeks. At nine years old, all
Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents’ arms, snuggling in bed
between them, and living under the same roof again. He cannot foresee the
perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and
deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two weeks will expand
into two life-altering months alongside fellow migrants who will come to
encircle him like an unexpected family. A memoir as gripping as it is
moving, Solito provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a
treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also of the miraculous
kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is
Javier Zamora’s story, but it’s also the story of millions of others who
had no choice but to leave home. Read more

 

Genre Biography