Guest post by Debra Thomas
Luz is the story of Alma, a daughter whose fierce love for her missing father propels her to persevere, against all odds, in the hopes of finding him. Woven throughout her journey is also a story of first love.
The novel opens in Los Angeles in 2015 with an argument between Alma and her willful teenage daughter, Luz. This heated discussion leads Alma to wish that her daughter could know the truth about Alma’s past. Because Luz is only fourteen, Alma fears she’s too young to understand much of what happened on Alma’s perilous journey through Mexico to the US in search of her father. And so, Alma keeps silent.
The novel continues with Alma reflecting on the story that she wishes she could tell her daughter, beginning in 1997 in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Alma’s father knows her better than anyone else, encouraging her love of math and her dreams of completing her education. While many young girls at her school are forced to quit and stay home to help their mothers, her father insists that Alma should be able to pursue her goal of becoming a teacher. But when her father inexplicably disappears after leaving Oaxaca to work on farms in the US—a job he has done for decades—the family is left destitute, and Alma’s hopes to continue her education are dashed. As a result, Alma convinces her sister, Rosa, to flee the poverty and hopelessness of their life and head north to see if they can find any news of their father. Along the way, they meet Manuel, a young man from Guatemala, who joins them in their travels and with whom Alma falls in love. Despite numerous obstacles, the three continue north, encountering both kindness and profound cruelty.
What happens once Alma reaches the US is a journey from despair to hope. A connection to her father’s past, the truth about a hidden letter, and her determined search to find farmworker champion Dolores Huerta help Alma move forward as she finds answers to her questions and gains strength to begin a new life in Los Angeles. The novel concludes in 2017 with the voice of Luz herself.
Timeless in its depiction of the depths of family devotion and the blaze of first love, Luz conveys, with compassion and insight, the plight of those desperate to cross the US border.
Reading Guide: Topics and Questions for Discussion
- Alma states that she has given her daughter Luz the safer story, rather than the truth. What do you think about this decision? Is it possible that, one day, she will tell Luz the truth/la verdad? How might Luz react to this?
- Discuss the many ways that Alma’s father’s disappearance changes her life.
- What is your opinion of Alma’s mother? What were her choices, and what decisions did she ultimately make? What might you have done in her place?
- How are Alma and Rosa alike? How are they different?
- What options did Alma and Rosa have after fleeing Chiapas? Discuss the possible consequences of each. Was heading for el norte a good decision? How was it any better, or worse, than the other options?
- Discuss the secret letter. What did it represent to Alma? Why do you think she didn’t tell Rosa about the letter? Once she has fallen in love with Manuel, in what ways has her belief in the letter intensified?
- Why does Alma feel responsible for Rosa’s fate? Is she? Discuss.
- Discuss both Ana and Senorita Garcia. What motivates each to help Alma in her journey?
- Who did you connect with the most in this novel? Explain.
- What does the image of one white calla lily on a deep blue back- ground, found on both Alma’s little box of stars and her math journal, represent to you?
- Discuss the math problems that Alma creates on her journey. What role did they play?
- Consider Berta’s story: the loss of her fiancé, her sister’s death, her role in Diego and Juan’s life. What do you think of her decision regarding Diego and the truth about the secret letter?
- What role does Dolores Huerta play in the novel? How does she influence Alma’s decisions along the way or boost her spirits during difficult times, and, finally, in what ways does she help bring closure to Alma’s journey?
- Discuss Luz as a coming-of-age novel. How does Alma change from the time her father disappeared until her meeting with Dolores?
- Discuss Luz’s journal entry at the end. How does it bring closure to the novel?
- Discuss the possible meanings of the title, Luz.
Debra Thomas is a writer, teacher, and immigrant/refugee rights advocate. Originally from Binghamton, New York, she has lived in Southern California most of her adult life. She has taught literature and writing at James Monroe High School, a Los Angeles public school, and English as a Second Language (ESL) to adults at MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity), Reseda Adult School, and Conejo Valley Adult School. A lover of all creatures great and small, when she isn’t with her two horses, she is relaxing with her husband and little dog, watching all the birds and critters that visit her backyard feeders. Her debut novel, Luz, won the 2020 Sarton Award for Contemporary Fiction and the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Multicultural Fiction. She is currently at work on her second novel, Pangaea, about a fragmented family that’s been pulled apart by life’s jolts and shakes, but when brought together by an unexpected crisis, they’re given a chance to reconnect. Pangaea will be published by She Writes Press in Spring 2023.
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