After getting pregnant as a teenager, Letty Espinosa has worked hard to make ends meet, holding down multiple jobs while relying on her mother to raise her son, Alex (and later, her daughter, Luna). But when her aging parents move back to Mexico, Letty is left in San Francisco to care for her children alone--with no clue about how to be a parent. Vanessa Diffenbaugh's lyrical second novel, We Never Asked for Wings, paints a thoughtful portrait of Letty and her children as they struggle to adjust to their new life and step forward into an uncertain future.
Letty had always been grateful for her parents' steady presence, and their absence makes her painfully aware of her own inadequacies. Alex, a sensitive 15-year-old scientist, is wrapped up in his first love, while six-year-old Luna misses her grandparents and her old routine. Amidst this struggle, Letty finds herself attracted to a handsome bartender at work, but the reappearance of Alex's father--Letty's high school boyfriend--complicates matters further.
Diffenbaugh (The Language of Flowers) unfolds her story in graceful prose that serves to highlight the sharp realities of the Espinosas' situation. The novel weaves together far-reaching themes, such as educational inequities, bullying and the plight of undocumented children, but its central theme is expressed in a tattoo worn by one of the characters: the origin of our identity is love.
Heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful, We Never Asked for Wings is a powerful story of big dreams, difficult choices and what it means to be a family. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams