Is America She Gone?

When Sandra, a single mother of two decides go to Brooklyn and work illegally for six months as a caregiver, she really believes that she will be able to make a lot of money in a short space of time. Encouraged by her cousin Patsy who lives in Brooklyn, Sandra leaves her children Antonio and Andrea behind in the hope that she will be able to make a better life for them.

In the diverse community of Brooklyn with its large West Indian population, she feels very much at home. However after a few unfortunate encounters, Sandra soon realizes that America is not quite the place that she naively imagined it to be. She questions the wisdom of her decision many times but in her desire to send barrels home to her children, she loses sight of what is truly important - family.

Andrea and Antonio face many challenges, as they struggle to cope with their mother's absence. Their father, who has started a new family, does not offer much parental support. Soon they fall prey to bad company and it is only a matter of time before their lives become irreversibly changed.

When Sandra eventually returns to Trinidad having achieved her financial goals, she learns the hard way that money cannot take the place of a parent's love and the price she must pay in the end for her decision is higher than she had ever imagined it would be.


From the Author of The Stolen Cascadura - Winner of Trinidad and Tobago NALIS One Book One Community Award 2012