But at the bus terminal, she is stopped by César, Juan’s free-spirited younger brother, who convinces her to stay.Īs the Dominican Republic slides into political turmoil, Juan returns to protect his family’s assets, leaving César to take care of Ana. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a reckless plan to escape. So on New Year’s Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. It doesn’t matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she must say yes. When I read parts of Dominicana at universities and literary venues both here and abroad, each time, audience members from all cultures and generations came up to me and said, this is my mother’s story, my sister’s story, my story’ Angie Cruzįifteen-year-old Ana Canción never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did.

Even if Dominicana is a Dominican story, it’s also a New York story, and an immigrant story. ‘This book is a valentine to my mom and all the unsung Dominicanas like her, for their quiet heroism in making a better life for their families, often at a hefty cost to themselves. the story itself and Ana, the protagonist are terrifically interesting. ‘ This compassionate and ingenious novel has an endearing vibrancy in the storytelling that, page after page, makes it addictive reading’ Irish Times ‘ The harsh reality of immigration is balanced with a refreshing dose of humour’ The Times told with incredible freshness’ Martha Lane Fox, Chair of Judges, Women’s Prize 2020 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020

Dominicana by angie cruz