About this item
Marisel Vera emerges as a major voice of contemporary fiction with a heart- wrenching novel set in Puerto Rico on the eve of the Spanish-American War. It is 1898, and groups of starving Puerto Ricans, los hambrientos, roam the parched countryside and dusty towns begging for food. Under the yoke of Spanish oppression, the Caribbean island is forced to prepare to wage war with the United States. Up in the mountainous coffee region of Utuado, Vicente Vega and Valentina Sanchez labor to keep their small farm from the creditors. When the Spanish-American War and the great San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899 bring devastating upheaval, the young couple is lured, along with thousands of other puertorriquenos, to the sugar plantations of Hawaii -- another US territory -- where they are confronted by the hollowness of America's promises of prosperity.
About the Author
Marisel Vera grew up in the barrio in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, where she was raised by Puerto Rican emigrant parents. One of six children, she was the first in her family to earn a college degree: a BA in Journalism from Northern Illinois University. She worked in public relations, writing and editing employee newspapers, newsletters, news releases and handling media relations. She studied writing with Paulette Roeske, Margaret Gibson, Jonis Agee, Rosellen Brown, and Cristina Garcia.In February 2011, Vera's current project, a coming-of-age novel, THE LIBERATION OF CARMELA LOPEZ, was adapted into play form and directed by her daughter, Alyssa Vera Ramos. It premiered at Northwestern University's Musseter-Struble Theatre and enjoyed overwhelmingly positive response.Vera won the Willow Review literary magazine's fiction prize for two of her short stories in 2000 and 2003. She wrote her novel, IF I BRING YOU ROSES, to discover her Puerto Rican heritage. She lives in suburban Chicago with her husband and two children.
