The World in Half
The World in Half begins with Miraflores, a college student from Chicago, discovering two things: her mother's health is in alarming decline and the story she's been told about her father is a lie. Born from an affair her mother had while living in Panama with her then-husband, Miraflores knows next to nothing about her biological father. Yet when she unearths the truth, she is driven by an unshakeable urge to find him and begin the relationship they've been denied. Soon, she is in Panama City with no idea where to begin — until, that is, she meets a young man named Danilo who helps her search the city for her elusive father. Charming and insightful, The World in Half illuminates complex ideas about identity, love, and the haunting ripple effect of past mistakes.
Quote:
"Because even though for twenty years I have been mostly okay about not knowing my father, even though for so long I have assumed that he's the sort of person I would be better off without, I would be lying if I didn't admit that I have real and sudden moments of wanting to meet him, little seizures of the heart."
Author:
Cristina Henríquez is the author of The Book of Unknown Americans, The World in Half, and Come Together, Fall Apart: A Novella and Stories. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Real Simple, and The Oxford American, as well as several anthologies. She lives in Chicago.
Published: 2009
Length: 320 pages
Main Setting: Panama City, Panama
Secondary Setting: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.