Wait by Gabriella Burnham

I am on a roll. I am reading about how the other half lives--the half (or more) of Americans who live at or under the poverty line. The setting is Nantucket, that beautiful island off the coast of Massachusetts, which is associated with gorgeous estates, wealth, pretty boutiques, cobblestone streets, photogenic beaches, and clambakes. The other half of the story, less-told one, is the Nantucket of undocumented immigrants, broken families, housing insecurity and hopelessness--that is the half this book is about. The story is about a family where the mother is illegal and is raing her two daughters alone, working several jobs and barely making it. The story follows daughter Elise, who learns, days after her college graduation, that her mother, Gilda, has been deported to Brazil. She had overstayed her visa and, as she explains to her older daughter, was thrown out of the country "like she was nothing." Elise has no other family besides her sister, Sophie, a recent high school graduate. Together, they must find a way to support themselves on Nantucket, no small feat in a place where affordable housing is scarce and the cost of living high. The sisters are offered a lifeline by Elise’s college friend, an heiress named Sheba who has her own problems (such as getting rejected from a yacht club), which is how we see the stark contrast between the haves and the have nots.