Rating: 5/5
Esperanza was a wealthy girl who grew up in Mexico. One day, her father was killed by bandits all of a sudden and the family gradually began to break down. Uncle Luis asked Mama to marry him, and she refused. Luis then explained that in Papa’s will he had been given Papa’s land and also the family’s bank. Mama and Esperanza had been left the house. Luis also added that if she did not marry him in due time, she would ‘regret her decision’. That night, the house caught fire; therefore, there was absolutely no question that it was Luis.
As part of the plan, Mama told Uncle Luis that she would marry him. That night, the servants, Mama, and Esperanza all ran away to the USA to find work with one the slaves’ relatives. Most of their money was in the bank and they knew that Luis would refuse to let them take it out. Because of this, it was a great struggle to get to the USA, but in the end everyone managed it and they got to their camp safely.
However, a month or so later, a dust storm affected Mama and she got very, very ill. In order to pay for the medicines and doctor’s bills so Mama could go to hospital, Esperanza decided to try working in the shed with the other women. She earned little wages and was even beginning to think that the strikers who had been taken back to Mexico were right, but then she remembered Mama and knew she needed whatever money she could get hold of. As well as her little wages, she went to market whenever she could and bought some money checks.
One day, Miguel went missing.
And that same day, her money checks went missing.
She knew Miguel had taken them.
And that was when misery and anger became joy – when Miguel returned, he was with someone Esperanza knew very well. It was her grandmother, Abuelita, who she loved and caressed dearly; and then, a bit abruptly and not in a way that I liked it, just after Mama got better, the book ended.