Having escaped crumbling, socialist Venezuela, Yola Palacio hopes she and her family can finally settle into a peaceful new life in Trinidad. And so what if they’re there illegally --- them and half the island! But life for the Palacios is never quiet, and when Yola’s formidable Aunt Celia dies, the family once again find themselves living on the edge. For Celia had been keeping a very big secret --- a local criminal called Ugly to whom Celia owes an awful lot of money. Without the funds to pay him off, Ugly forces the entire family to do his bidding until Celia’s debt is settled. What Ugly says, the Palacios do, otherwise death could lurk on the other side.
What follows is a year that turns the Palacios’ lives upside down. But in the midst of the turmoil strolls Roman --- Ugly’s distractingly gorgeous right-hand man. And although she knows it’s a terrible idea and a dangerous betrayal of her family’s predicament, Yola just can’t help herself. Where, though, does Roman’s loyalty lie? And could this wildly inappropriate romance turn out to be the saving grace of a terrible year of Ugly?
ONE YEAR OF UGLY is a delightfully fun, enormously fresh debut about dysfunctional families and messy romance, exploring cross-cultural struggles from a unique immigrant perspective. It brings the vivacious spark of Junot Diaz, the captivating wit of Maria Semple, and through Yola, our feisty, young narrator, we’re introduced to an exciting new voice in contemporary fiction.
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