I received a free ARC of The Book of Rosy from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border reveals the heart-wrenching true story of a Guatemalan migrant mother and two of her children as they seek freedom in the United States. It's been months since the cable news channels have focused on the cruelties and deprivations of the makeshift border camps where children are forcibly removed from their parents. The news cycle may have moved on to the presidential race but the issues presented in this timely memoir still exist. One part of this book reveals the perilous journey of Rosy and her family to the United States, the terrifying ordeal of imprisonment and separation at Homeland Security border camps, and the subsequent unexpected kindness of strangers and communities who rally to support Rosy while she undergoes the legal hoopla called asylum. The other part of this book explains the origins and steadfastness of groups in this country that are determined to ameliorate the cruelty of the current administration's immigration policies.

Rosy is the widowed mother of four children in Guatemala. Her husband had been murdered and her life was nearly taken. Drug and gang violence, poverty, and constant uncertainty surround her family. The only saving graces she has - her devoted extended family and a work ethic focused on improving her family's chances for survival. Fearing for her older son's safety in a gang-ridden environment, Rosy leaves her two daughters with her mother and sister and begins the perilous journey north with her two boys. The coyote system of human transport is reminiscent of cattle cars headed to Auschwitz; they are overcrowded and filled with anguished, hungry and thirsty people. At times the migrants are uncertain if they will survive the journey.

A desperate race across the border results in Rosy and her children taken into custody by border patrol. Separated from her children and placed in an ice-cold cell with other women is just the beginning of Rosy's nightmarish experience with US regulations. In a short time, Rosy's boys are taken to New York for foster care while she languishes in the camp with no sure mechanism for aid. It is sheer luck that places Rosy in contact with a lawyer who seeks to reunite mothers and their children. Volunteers across the US and countless others who donate financially enable Rosy to be released on bond and reunited with her children. Unfortunately, their future is still uncertain.

The section of the book dealing with the rather spontaneous creation of "Immigrant Families Together" and its mission to help mothers separated from their children is quite powerful. The grassroots organization provides assistance to Rosy and others without a guidebook or a set of by-laws; its members know they must do something to help. It is humbling to read of such persistence in the face of political evil.

Despite the horrors that Rosy and others have faced at the hands of our government, they express a hope and a dream that is shared by so many - and by our own immigrant ancestors. Read this book!
#TheBookofRosy #NetGalley

Wow. It is so hard to formally write a who’re because I am speechless. This book is probably my best read of 2020. I cried, I worried, and I cried again. It is such a moving story of strength and persistence. A mother’s love knows no boundaries. I will be recommending this to everyone I know. Love it.

This book is important and I think everyone needs to read it! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy. Rosy's story is happening to so many other victims of this barbaric policy and people need to read what's really going on. This book does that in a dramatic fashion while still telling the truth of a "dirty little secret" in this country. It wasn't political, but you knew exactly what was going on. The author's did an excellent job of portraying this woman and her victimization in a way that didn't force you to choose sides. I love when a book really makes me think and this one definitely did. Again, thanks for the opportunity to read this future bestseller!

ADD TO YOUR TBR! I normally don’t read ARCs this far in advance, but felt that this June 2020 release deserved my immediate attention. I read it in its entirety over the past 24 hours and it was well worth my time in bumping it up my TBR.

Keep your eye out for it in June ~ especially those of you I’ve heard lately begging for a large publisher to hype an #ownvoices story about immigration to the US - so proud of Harper One for snagging this deal!

Remember that pre-orders massively help demonstrate what readers care about and that requesting that your library purchase a book counts as a pre-order. Also just marking a book as to-read here helps boost it.

As for a full review, I don’t really feel equipped critically review a story such as this. A story of a woman’s trauma, and the story of the woman who helped her is really just what it is. Can you like or dislike such a thing??? My only criticism is that I wish it were longer.... it felt like we just got the tip of the iceberg here. Also, this is only one story of one woman whose journey had a miraculous turn when she got essentially rescued by IFT. Remember that her story doesn’t represent all who travel to the US from Central America, but her reasons for fleeing are shared by so many. Rosy’s words are in English via translation but I’m excited to hear that this book is being published simultaneously in English and Spanish. I’m excited to read more thoughts about this book when it’s been more widely reviewed.

The powerful memoir of Rosy, a Guatemalan mother of 4 who tells the story of her life in Guatemala with her four children and the events leading to her bringing her two boys to the US, where we is separated by them due to the Trump zero-tolerance program. Separated for 81 days in deplorable conditions, we learn what brought her to risk a crossing, what her life was like in her home country and then the work of the group IFT (Immigrant Families Together). IFT, founded by Julie, a former social worker whose husband was a refugee from Cuba, has sought and paid the bond on the relief of mothers separated from their children and then continue to support them as the families seek formal asylum. Rosy and Julie put a face to this policy and urge action. Rosy's faith and the humanity of the Americans who step up to help give faith.

Heart wrenching a book that will have you angry sad ,a story of the desire for freedom of love of mother’s for their children.Ripped from today’s headlines from the political climate we suffer in.An important book a book I highly recommend.#netgalley#thebookofrosy

This book broke my heart in all the necessary ways. It is beautifully written, especially considering the devastation of the subject matter, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the immigration crisis at the southern border of the United States.

Harrowing, heartbreaking, and compulsively readable. This memoir is co-written by Rosy, a Guatemalan mother who flees gang violence and death threats with her 2 young sons along the Migrant Pipeline to the US and her 3 spirit-breaking months in dentention center after she is forcibly separated from her chiildren. One amazing facet of her story is that the traumatic experience strengthens her connection with Spirit and God, and she begins ernestly praying and seeking inner solutions for the outer events she cannot control. The most vivid depictions were the travel from Guatemala to the US and the time spent with other women who had been separated from their young children in the detention center.

Once she is freed by a wonderful group of activists and taken under their wing, they move her to NYC, where her children have been lovingly cared for in a foster home. The story moves quickly then. A woman named Julie, head of the organization that has been instrumental in posting bond for many women in detention and then leading them to new lives, writes her own memoir section of the book. She is a former social worker and as head of a large organization, much of her writing is statistics. It did not seem as engaging and heart-rendering as the first-person account by Rosy.

Highly recommended as a first-person account of traveling to migrate to the US from Central America, being separated by family and thrown into detention prisons by ICE, not sugarcoated. Raw brutal truth.