Reviewer: Samantha
Arleen Williams is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and Biking Uphill
Summary:
Biking home from the Los Arboles Sunday Market, a sun‑flower yellow teapot snug in her backpack, lonely college student Carolyn Bauer sees a young teenager huddling under a eucalyptus tree. Carolyn shares her food and water with Antonia as they struggle to communicate in a mix of languages. Realizing Antonia lives on the streets, Carolyn invites her home. They share a summer of friendship until the day the yellow teapot shatters and Antonia mysteriously disappears. Fifteen years later, only Antonia recognizes her old friend when she and Carolyn meet again in an ESL classroom, but she conceals her secret. Carolyn arranges a class project for Antonia—to job-shadow her friend and housemate, Gemi Kemmal. Gemi learns Antonia’s dangerous circumstances when Antonia arrives for work with bruises barely concealed by thick makeup and offers her sanctuary just as Carolyn had years earlier. Together the three women confront Antonia’s abuser and build a family of enduring friendship. Biking Uphill, the second book in the Alki Trilogy, invites the reader into a world of undocumented immigration, where parents are deported, and a young girl is abandoned to face life on her own.
Review:
This story was a lot deeper and more emotional than I thought it would be at first glance. It is the second in a series, but definitely can be read as a stand alone. The complex issues that we explore as readers is moving and made me think well after I finished the last page. I found myself getting into discussions with friends over some of the topics that were talked about in the book, and I absolutely love that in a novel. The friendship that is explored not only between Carolyn and Antonia but the supporting characters as well is touching to read about, and there is suspense mixed with romance which added plenty of more depth to the book. One for your reading list.
4.5 stars
Author Bio:
Arleen Williams is the author of two books: Running Secrets, the first novel in
The Alki Trilogy, and The Thirty-Ninth Victim, a memoir of her family’s journey
before and after her sister’s murder. She teaches English as a Second
Language at South Seattle College and has worked with immigrants and
refugees for close to three decades. Arleen lives and writes in West Seattle.
To learn more, please visit www.arleenwilliams.com.
Buy the Book!
Amazon: amzn.to/1r4TGBC
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/biking-uphill-arleen-williams/1119444227?ean=9781620153499
