Rosa by Barbara de la Cuesta
Winner, Brain Mill Press Driftless Unsolicited Novella Series
Darkly witty and compulsively readable, Barbara de la Cuesta's novella lets us into the private life and secret thoughts of Rosa, an undocumented home health aide grappling with menopause and her unruly body, unexpected romance, grown children who alternately worry her and fill her with pride, and how life is confronting her with everything she has ever denied herself or hidden away from. Rosa is a natural storyteller, insightful in hindsight about her own motivations and unflinching in her willingness to look at the girl she was and the woman she has become. Rosa is a daring, funny, and emotional story about a woman moving her life out of the margins and into the sun with the power of confession.
Manhattan Book Review by Jo Niederhoff (five stars)
"...how can we truly understand anyone if we don't know where they come from? This question (and its answer, that we can't) are the reason I love this novella so much. In a time so fraught with suspicion regarding illegal immigrants, it feels more important now than ever to read their stories, in both fiction and nonfiction. Rosa is a magnificent display of empathy, a chance to see through the eyes of those who are all too often dismissed with either disdain or pity."
