First published 2005
Libertad González sits in a Mexican prison, convicted of a crime she refuses to discuss. To break the monotony of prison life, she starts a book club for her fellow inmates. But Libertad doesn't read from the library books she carries. Instead, she tells the women her own story. Through these sessions, we learn about her unconventional life with her father, a former literature professor who became a truck driver by chance. Together they traveled American highways in their colorful truck, sharing a love of books and searching for her missing mother. Libertad's tale weaves through their cross-country journeys, her early passion for literature, and the mystery of what happened to her mother. As the story unfolds, it builds toward a surprising conclusion that will reshape everything the inmates thought they knew about their storyteller.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Mexico
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
256 pages · Hardcover · Maeva