Written by: Julia Alvarez
First line: My husband and I have an ongoing debate about how old Piti was when we first met him.
Why you should read this book: The novelist recalls two meaningful trips she and her husband Bill took to Haiti with Piti, a charming and capable young man they befriended years earlier, along with a delightful assortment of other characters. In the first half of the book, they travel to Haiti to attend Piti's wedding, a comically difficult trip in both directions; after falling in love with the people they met on the previous journey, they feel the need to visit again in the wake of the 2010 earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince. Haiti is a foreign land to Alvarez, despite the fact that she is from the Dominican Republic next door, and she is equally enchanted and inconvenienced at every turn, capturing the land and its people, their trials, tragedies, and triumphs with a clear eye.
Why you shouldn't read this book: You're shocked--Shocked!--to learn that some people take bribes.
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