My February 2022 release is The Family She Never Met from Sourcebooks Casablanca. It is a story of three women torn apart by the past, but it is also my family’s story. Being able to write it and share it with you is an incomparable gift. Here is a little essay about why I write such an emotionally challenging story. You can order The Family She Never Met at https://www.caridad.com/books/womens-fiction/the-family-she-never-met/ and at https://amzn.to/3yrE31l.
Why I wrote The Family She Never Met
I remember what it was like when we came here from Cuba. The “cousins” who would stay with us when they first arrived before going on their way. Parties with friends and the music that would pull me from my bedroom where I was supposed to be sleeping. I’d huddle at the top of the stairs, watching them dance and laugh. So graceful and beautiful. But then sadness and tears would creep in as they reminisced about the Cuba they had left behind and their dreams to one day return.
I remember my fear of being left behind. Because of their political activities, my parents had to escape to avoid imprisonment or worse. They left my sister and me in Cuba with my grandparents. For nearly two years we were separated, first by Castro as punishment and then because we wanted to enter the U.S. legally.
It wasn’t an easy time when we came here. It was such a different place, and we were sometimes not welcome, but we were free, and America truly is the land of opportunity. My parents and grandparents worked hard to secure the American Dream. My grandfather even lied about his age so he could get a job. At sixty-five he should have been thinking about retirement. Instead, he worked at an airport maintenance service to help put food on the table and a roof over our heads.
There were many other stories about our escape from Cuba and achieving our American Dream. For years I tried to find a way to write about those and to also explore the rediscovery of my Cubanidad after my daughter was born and
I wondered what I would leave of myself to her.
Every time I started to write I found myself pulling back because it was oftentimes too emotional to explore that history and my feelings, especially about a mother who didn’t want to talk about Cuba because it was too painful for her.
In truth, although there were many memories and stories that came to me while she was alive, there were almost as many others that were gifted to me by family and friends after her death.
When the thought came to me about writing a story about a young woman who knew little about her family’s history, I asked myself, “Why not tell your family’s story through her? Why not leave your daughter these memories for her to share with her little ones?”
Before I knew it, the emotions and memories that had been trapped in my heart became freely flowing words through the fictional characters of Lara, Jessica, and Carmen (after my mother).
The Family She Never Knew is mi familia. It is a story of a family that experienced the Cuban diaspora and a loss that remains with us to this day. It is a story of survival and family ties. Of hurt and separation, but more importantly, of setting aside the past and its ghosts to forge our future.
For me, it is also about honoring my mother and her courage in bringing her family to the United States and the sacrifices she made so that we could secure the American Dream. It is also about paying homage to my fellow Cubans, my husband’s Italian family, and so many other immigrants who have come to America for a better life.
Finally, it is about thanking America and its people for all that they have provided to so many for so long.
It is my hope that when you read The Family She Never Met you will see yourself and your family on the pages because the story it tells is a universal one, but more importantly, it is a story filled with hope and the power of love.
