Wholesale Illegal : Bettina Restrepo

Paperback | YOUNG ADULT FICTION/Social Themes / Emigration, Immigration & Refugees When Nora’s father, Arturo, leaves their home in Mexico to search for work in the United States, Nora stays back with her mother, Aurora, and her grandmother. Nora struggles to make sense of her loss as the three women live in abject poverty in wait of Arturo’s return and a better day. Soon the letters and money stop coming, so Nora decides that she and Aurora must go to Texas to find Arturo. After a harrowing and dehumanizing border crossing experience, Nora and Aurora find themselves all alone in a new place and not speaking the language. Befriending kind strangers in Texas, the two are offered employment after purchasing work papers, but their life in America is filled with challenges. Nora must find the strength to meet these challenges and find her father—all the while still pining for friends, a pair of new shoes, and a quinceañera party to mark her fifteenth birthday.