The Iguana Tree - Paperback

by Michel Stone (Author)

Set amid the perils of illegal border crossings, The Iguana Tree is the suspenseful saga of Lilia and Hector, who separately make their way from Mexico into the United States, seeking work in the Carolinas and a home for their infant daughter.

Michel Stone s harrowing novel meticulously examines the obstacles each faces in pursuing a new life: manipulation, rape, and murder in the perilous commerce of border crossings; betrayal by family and friends; exploitation by corrupt officials and rapacious landowners on the U.S. side; and, finally, the inexorable workings of the U.S. justice system.

Hector and Lilia meet Americans willing to help them with legal assistance and offers of responsible employment, but their illegal entry seems certain to prove their undoing. The consequences of their decisions are devastating. In the end, The Iguana Tree is a universal story of loss, grief, and human dignity.

Author Biography

Michel Stone's novels are Border Child (Doubleday), The Iguana Tree (Hub City Press), and Fig Days (Regal House Publishing). She is the 11th generation of her family to have lived in Charleston County, South Carolina, and her writing reflects her deep ties to and love of the Lowcountry. She is the winner of the Mary Frances Hobson Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Arts and Letters, the Patricia Winn Award for Southern Literature, and the South Carolina Fiction Award. Michel's novels have been favorably reviewed by The San Francisco Chronicle, The New Yorker, and many places in between. Her first name is pronounced like "Michelle" (people always ask!)