New Yorker Jordan Salama (Every Day the River Changes) always knew his Jewish family had both Arab and Argentinian roots. In his compelling second book, Stranger in the Desert, Salama traces his journey through Latin America in search of his great-grandfather Selim Salama, a traveling salesman who left a colorful but vague legacy. Inspired by a binder bulging with stories and photos--his abuelo's handmade family archive--Salama heads to the Argentine Andes to learn more about Selim's life and possibly meet his great-grandfather's other descendants.
Salama is a thoughtful narrator, giving historical context for readers who may know little about the political, social, and economic forces that led to displaced Jews (and others) working as traveling salesmen in Argentina. During his travels, Jordan sends brief e-mails to his abuelo, sharing his triumphs and disappointments--since the journey contains both exciting twists and seeming dead ends.
Though Selim Salama himself proves elusive, Jordan's quest for the "Lost Salamas," his grandfather's lost descendants, gradually fades into the background. What he does discover is something deeper and more compelling: his own soul-level connection to the land that became his ancestors', its customs and language echoed in his abuelo's house in the Hudson Valley.
Through the lens of his family's layered identity, Salama muses on being a traveler, a wanderer, a person of mixed identities in a world that prefers to sort people into tidy linguistic or cultural boxes. Readers will be left musing on their own family histories, perhaps wondering what they might discover if they were to follow a loose thread or two. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams