THE FIRST BOOK OF AN EXOTIC

Book excerpt: A graveyard, fresh dirt, bleak skies--these are the things that Alice is left to fill the void of the passing of her husband, John. Her memories alone of their love that started in a small village in Kerala, India, is not enough to comfort her in the darkness of a cemetery in the United States, so far away from home. Brought overseas by the nursing gap in the 1970s that so desperately left the United States in a health-care crisis, Alice is a displaced nurse who brought her family, including her brother, Jose, with her on this arduous journey. Although Alice's profession is essential to building the economy, she is not met with a welcome committee or happiness on arrival. She suffers through rejection, discrimination, and prejudice at the hands of the men and women who begged for her and others like her to be here. The passion of her brother, Jose, was for writing, and he yearned to go back to his home country with the money needed to kick-start his career. He soon discovers that the American dream is nothing but a mirage--he realizes that the invitation to this monumental country does not come with instructions on how to survive it. As America becomes more polarized, they are forced to lose their dignity, self-worth, culture, and honor to make it day by day in a country whose people see them as a threat. Through the struggle, Jose intensely questions humanity. Will he, his friends, and sister, Alice, succumb to the unintended role they play as Atlas in carrying the burdens of the exotics that are now trapped here?