When You Get to the Other Side

by Mariana Osorio Gumá, Cecilia Weddell (Translator)

Overview

A spellbinding novel about crossing both natural and supernatural borders--the mystical beauty of Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima meets the urgency of Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archives.

The morning they left Amatlán in the bed of a pickup truck, in the hours between darkness and daybreak, the world became immense and noisy. Emilia Ventura shut her eyes and inhaled deeply, bringing in the fresh air of her homeland. She wanted to hold onto it. Let it go down into the depths of her soul, wrapped securely in the mist of daybreak.

Emilia and Gregorio spent their childhood following their grandmother through the mountains of central México, gathering the ingredients she used for curandera work and learning about the supernatural world. When she passes away, the siblings are left alone. So they scrape together their money and pay coyotes to smuggle them to their father in the United States.

The siblings are exhausted before they even reach the border, where the coyotes seize Emilia for their own harsh ends. As brother and sister fight to find each other again, battling the parching desert and the ruthless criminals who haunt it, they draw strength from their profound bond and the insights into nature they gleaned from their grandmother. If Emilia and Gregorio can survive their journey, what awaits them on the other side?

This masterful novel, first published in México, pushes beyond stereotypes to honor not only the dangers immigrants withstand, but also the far-reaching knowledge and roots they carry. When You Get to the Other Side is a powerful, poignant look at the nature of borders, what it means to cross them, and the changes people undergo when they travel between two worlds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781947627666
Publisher:	Lee & Low Books
Publication date:	09/13/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Mariana Osorio Gumá is a psychoanalyst and writer. She has published seven books of fiction in Spanish, three of which have been selected by the International Board on Books for Young People for their high quality. In 2014, she was awarded the Premio Literario Lipp La brasserie for her novel Tal vez vuelvan los pájaros. Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1967, she has lived in Mexico since 1973.

Cecilia Weddell is a writer, editor, and translator from El Paso, Texas. She has a Ph.D. in Editorial Studies from Boston University. Her translations from Spanish have appeared in World Literature Today, Literary Imagination, Harvard Review, and more.

Read an Excerpt

“What I’m going to tell you now, Emilia, is for you to save in your heart.” She tossed a handful of herbs into the bowl where she was preparing tea. “What I’m going to tell you is what I’m going to leave you of me, of my mystery, my legacy. It’s only going to help you when you’re far away. When you learn how to draw words on paper real, real well. And you’re only going to remember it when you feel totally lost in the middle of nowhere.”

“But there’s nowhere I’m goin’, mamita,” I said, convinced.

She returned her gaze to the embers. “That’s right, chamaca: You’re going to no where, in so many words. Destiny put grasshoppers in your feet. Wings on your back. You’re going to carry with you the story of your family, my history, the history of this very mountain that is your home. The history of your ancestors, even though you don’t know it. And one day, when you miss me and you feel like you’re going to forget me, you’re going to sit down to sketch it all out on pieces of paper, so that other people know it. So that not even you can forget it. It’s going to come right out, you’ll see. You won’t have to call for it.” And before my questions could rain down on her, she returned to the day she was struck by lightning . . .

Editorial Reviews

"A moving story of migration that tempers the pain and loss of a journey to the US with rich lyricism and magical realism. Timely, vivid, and uncompromisingly authentic, When You Get to the Other Side reminds us with unflinching honesty that meaning and joy must be sought in this moment, where we are. The promised land is "right here," among the spirits of ancestors, of rock and soil, ready to be fashioned with our hearts and hands." — David Bowles, award-winning author and co-founder of #DignidadLiteraria

"Gumá's language is beautiful, her writing style unceasingly bold, but her novel's literary merit is best embodied by its introspective imagery and symbolism. . . . Weddell's translation is excellent as well, her attention to detail evident in every sentence. . . . [A] breath of fresh air and new perspectives on immigration and the supernatural." — BookPage

From the Publisher