Cristina Henriquez

Often, when people ask me what I read as a young girl, I lie. Or, I should say, I lie by omission. I tell them about my brilliant fourth-grade teacher, Miss Artis, who assigned us Johnny Tremain and Where the Red Fern Grows and Tuck Everlasting, all books that made ...

Cristina Henriquez talks about her novel The Book of Unknown Americans, about a boy and a girl who fall in love, and two families whose hopes collide with destiny. Arturo and Alma Rivera have lived their whole lives in Mexico. One day, their 15-year-old daughter, Maribel, is terribly injured, and they doubt that she’ll ever be the same. And so, leaving all they have behind, the Riveras come to America with a single dream: that in this country of great opportunity and resources, Maribel can get better.