Lately, Mami’s eyes have been so dark, I don’t like looking into them because I’m afraid I’ll fall in.

— Raquel Cepeda

Listen kid, it’s just you and me now, so let’s help each other out. Always be honest with me, and show me how to be the mother and father I never had. I’ll make a mess of things sometimes, and I’m sorry in advance, but I’ll try. My word is bond.

— Raquel Cepeda

More than anything, this place feels familiar. I bury my hands in the hot sand and think about the embodiment of memory or, more specifically, our natural ability to carry the past in our bodies and minds. Individually, every grain of sand brushing against my hands represents a story, an experience, and a block for me to build upon for the next generation. I quietly thank this ancestor of mine for surviving the trip so that I could one day return.

— Raquel Cepeda

Nobody, she felt, understood her--not her mother, not her father, not her sister or brother, none of the girls or boys at school, Nadia--except her man.

— Raquel Cepeda

Paradise is a state of being, more than just the name of a suburb or a home.

— Raquel Cepeda

Perhaps finding out that we carry New World history in our genes will transcend racial checkboxes altogether and enable Latino-Americans to rethink what America is supposed to look like.

— Raquel Cepeda

Shakespeare had it right all along: Love will kill you in the end.

— Raquel Cepeda

She looks like an empty shell of a woman with her soul hovering above her. We believe in spiritual GUIDs in Santo Domingo. Hers is her own self. I can see Mami’s soul desperately trying to find its way back into her small body.

— Raquel Cepeda

Sometimes opposites attract, or so they say, but Paloma and Rocco were like arrow and mango: they didn’t really mix well.

— Raquel Cepeda

Support and encouragement are found in the most unlikely places.

— Raquel Cepeda