My Sunday Book Review for Elaine Orr’s – In the Shadow of Light. This book is a short but powerful read. The book is a fictional story based on actual events going in the U.S. with strict family separation immigration policies and gives us a look at two families caught in the turmoil. One family are the immigrants fleeing from Honduras seeking asylum in the U.S. expecting to be admitted for previously saving the life of an American soldier, Colonel Bill, and what happened to them once arriving on American soil. The other family is American, caught up in conflicting turmoil between being patriotic to their country’s laws, where the husband works for the Department of Justice,  abiding by the separation policy, now facing a crisis when their own daughter’s life is put in jeopardy as payback to give them a taste of what’s it’s like to have your child taken away.

Blurb:

Corozón, her mother, and little brother Pico have left Honduras to seek asylum in the U.S. Grandfather Tito and her father Manuel saved the life of Colonel Bill, an American soldier, many years ago. It’s probably part of the reason Corozón’s father was murdered. They believe they are fleeing to safety, but don’t know about the family separation policy. While they flee northward, the daughter and friend of the DOJ employee who has become the face of the policy attend a birthday party. But they don’t make it home. Someone wants young Kyra’s father to feel the pain of the separated families. Thanks to a nighttime photo snapped by a freelancer, Corozón’s terror at having her little brother pried from her resonates with many. A Washington Post reporter joins Colonel Bill to try to find the family. But the DOJ isn’t helping nearly as much to get young Kyra released. Two families, different circumstances, scary options.

Editorial Reviews

My 5 Star Review:

A Fictional Story About a Non Fictional Heinous Policy

This book is a fictional accounting of a very real situation being practiced in the United States – Family separation policies at the borders and ripping families apart. This may be a fictional story but it’s all too real. Names have been changed but the same policies exist, the same confliction is faced by border agents where they are compelled to do their jobs as country states despite their misgivings and own heartbreak of being part of and having to enforce  the dark new laws. What struck me as odd in the story was the name substituted for the current president – President Diamond. I’d love to know what inspired the author to choose that name. Personally, I would have named him President Coal.

After Isabella’s husband was killed in Honduras, she picked up her 2 children and fled to the U.S., knowing her and kids would be next. Her husband had once saved the life of an American soldier – Colonel Bill, while risking his own life to do so, and she was counting on the Colonel’s assistance to help her into the U.S. once at the border. But Isabella wasn’t aware of the new child snatching policies at the borders, and once they arrived from their trek, Isabella’s two children were taken from her, leaving little Corozon alone with her baby brother Pico in an unfamiliar world of new fears and the responsibility to protect her baby brother while wondering if they’d ever see their mother again.

Meanwhile, on the other side of this story, a certain member of the DOJ who oversees the policies of child snatching at the borders soon discovers his own daughter has been kidnapped to give him a taste of what it’s like to have his child ripped from his life, forcing him to take a good look at his job while terrified he may never see his daughter again.

This book gives us a hard look at both sides of the coin for both the immigrant’s plight for survival by escaping their own country’s war to an inconspicuous new kind of war, while giving us a glimpse of what it’s like to be the enforcers of this heinous policy. Orr has done a wonderful job of conveying her position on the current border policies through these heart-wrenching stories.