Jaya is from Trinidad, Maria is from Mexico, and Lola is from Slovakia. The girls couldn't be more different, except for two things: They're all the daughters of maids and nannies in their prosperous suburban town of Meadowbrook, and they all long to fit in and succeed among their more privileged peers. But when Jaya's mother is accused of stealing some valuable jewelry from her employer, the seemingly liberal town of Meadowbrook becomes a place of ugly tensions and racism, and the girls' friendship threatens to buckle under the strain.

Once again, Marina Budhos has written a thoughtful and ambitious novel about class and the cultural differences that can both divide and unite.

 

This book has been graded for interest at 12+ years.

There are 304 pages in this book. This book was published 2010 by Simon & Schuster .

Marina Budhos is the author of such books as Ask Me No Questions, Tell Us We're Home, and Remix: Conversations with Immigrant Teenagers. She has received an EMMA (Exceptional Merit Media Award) and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award for women writers. Ms. Budhos has been a Fulbright Scholar in India, has given talks throughout the country and abroad, and has taught at several universities and colleges. She is currently an associate professor of English at William Paterson University. She lives with her husband and fellow Atheneum author, Marc Aronson, and their two sons in Maplewood, New Jersey. You can visit her online at marinabudhos. com.