Roots that Reach the Stars

Roots That Reach the Stars is a coming-of-age novel about Marisol Reyes-sixteen years old, the eldest daughter of Dominican immigrants, and on the cusp of making a decision that will change everything.Marisol has spent her childhood translating for her Spanish-speaking mother, caring for her younger brother, and quietly suppressing her own ambitions in service of her family's stability. When she discovers a prestigious teen astronomy program at the American Museum of Natural History, she forges her mother's signature on the application - the first deliberate lie she has ever told. Her acceptance sets in motion a chain of consequences she could not have anticipated: a rupture with her mother, the unraveling of her oldest friendship, and the slow erosion of the careful life she had built to keep her family intact.Roots That Reach the Stars is a debut novel about identity, ambition, grief, and the quiet labor of immigrant daughters. It is written in English and Spanish, in the rhythm of the households it honors.