Author : Julia AlvarezLanguage : EnglishPublisher : Algonquin BooksDescUprooted from their family home in the Dominican Republic, the four Garcia sisters - Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia - arrive in New York City in 1960 to find a life far different from the genteel existence of maids, manicures, and extended family they left behind. What they have lost - and what they find - is revealed in the fifteen interconnected stories that make up this exquisite novel from one of the premier novelists of our time. , , Just as it is a feature of the immigrant experience to always look back, the novel begins with thirty-nine-year-old Yolanda's return to the island and moves magically backward in time to the final days before the exile that is to transform the sisters' lives. Along the way we witness their headlong plunge into the American mainstream. Although the girls try to distance themselves from their island life by ironing their hair, forgetting their Spanish, and meeting boys unchaperoned, they remain forever caught between the old world and the new. With bright humor and rare insight, Julia Alvarez vividly evokes the tensions and joys of belonging to two distinct cultures in a novel that is utterly authentic and full of irrepressible spirit.Number of Pages : 311Editorial review"A clear-eyed look at the insecurity and yearning for a sense of belonging that are a part of the immigrant experience . . . Movingly told." --The Washington Post Book World "Extraordinary . . . The voice of personal and political history as it lives now." --The Bloomsbury Review "Simply wonderful." --Los Angeles Times "[A] tender, charming book . . . There is a charge to Alvarez's writing, a poetic intensity, that is truly original." --The Miami Herald "Poignant . . . Powerful . . . Beautifully captures the threshold experience of the new immigrant, where the past is not yet a memory." --The New York Times Book Review "Subtle . . Powerful . . . Reveals the intricacies of family, the impact of culture and place, and the profound power of language." --The San Diego Tribune