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This week’s guest is Nancy Blodgett Klein who many of you will know from her blog and her wonderful writing. I’m delighted to share her news about her latest book, a YA contemporary dystopian novel, which has been published this week. The novel is called Time to Take Off. Here’s the blurb:
Angel, a fifteen-year-old Mexican-American boy, is on the run from ICE agents who raided his high school looking for undocumented people. He was born in the United States, but he has no birth certificate to prove it. The times are changing, and it’s not safe for a boy like Angel to live there anymore.
At the same time, Angel’s mother, Luna, has been incarcerated for being an undocumented immigrant. She has no idea what is happening to her son and if she will ever see him again.
The story is told from the points of view of Angel and Luna in alternating chapters. Angel faces many challenges and close calls as he makes his way to the Canadian border where he hopes to find freedom. Along the way he falls in love, makes friends, and one enemy, and learns to stand up for himself and others. In the meantime, Luna learns to navigate the cruel prison system and finds love herself. Her goal is to eventually find her son so they can be together again, whatever it takes.
This exciting contemporary dystopian story will have you on the edge of your seat, cheering for Angel and Luna. Is their love for each other strong enough for them to overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers keeping them apart?
Here’s an extract from chapter one:
My heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest as I had been running down alleys from la Migra for three blocks straight. I had to find a good hiding place and quick. If this asshole caught me, it would be straight to prison, with no hope of getting out anytime soon.
The muscles in my legs burnt like hot coals and my heart was ready to explode. I was so out of shape, spending too much time at my uncle’s restaurant eating tamales and tacos al pastor.
To my left, I noticed a partially opened garage door. I grabbed the door with both hands, and checking to see no one else was there, I stepped inside and pulled the door closed.
Moments later, I heard the Migra agent say, “Fuck.” Then he yelled to someone nearby, “I lost the little dirtbag.”
I exhaled, my racing heart slowing down at last. I waited inside the garage until the sun went down before I opened the door again and took my chances outside. It was really hard to keep yourself hidden in Chicago, as the police had cameras on most streets to monitor any suspicious activity.
After this close call, I decided it would be best to move around at nighttime and stay off the main city streets around Pilsen, on the lower West Side of Chicago.
My name is Angel, by the way: Angel Rodriquez. I am fifteen years old and was born in the US. My mother left Mexico when she was pregnant with me. Her boyfriend at the time was a bastard who took drugs and hit her if she talked back to him. Or so she told me. She must have been really scared of him because she wouldn’t ever even tell me his name, in case I ever wanted to go to Mexico to look for him. I didn’t have a birth certificate either, since Mami gave birth in a safe house in Arizona with the help of a midwife.
In the old days, before the US elected a fascist president, it wouldn’t have mattered so much that I didn’t have a birth certificate because people born in the United States were automatically considered citizens. It is even written into the Constitution as the Fourteenth Amendment. But without proof, without papers, I was in danger. Since my mother, Luna, came to the US illegally, that made me suspect too.
Whole families got deported to whatever country they came from or even to countries they had no connection to. And some countries were saying no to more deportees. So many undocumented people were in private prisons, jails or holding centers. And it wasn’t just ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, doing the deporting. Customs and Border Protection were involved, and not just near borders. Together, these agencies, known as la Migra, did raids on a regular basis, in factories and fields, but also in schools, hospitals, churches, and on the street.
When I ran away from la Migra, they had just raided my high school. I think that’s one of the reasons I got away—they were chasing lots of other brown-skinned people at the same time. There were lots of Latinos in Pilsen. In fact, it was one of the best-known Mexican-American neighborhoods in Chicago.
Buying links:
USA
E-book:
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/time-to-take-off-nancy-blodgett-klein/1151113519?ean=2940197251480.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Take-Nancy-Blodgett-Klein-ebook/dp/B0HFT7YY45.
Independent Book Stores: https://bookshop.org/p/books/time-to-take-off-nancy-blodgett-klein/12cf5dc004f31b34?ean=9798235972094&bkshp-astro=t.
Paperback:
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/time-to-take-off-nancy-blodgett-klein/1151113519?ean=9798235289307.
Independent Book Stores: https://bookshop.org/p/books/time-to-take-off-nancy-blodgett-klein/12cf5dc004f31b34?ean=9798235289307&bkshp-astro=t.
UK:
Paperback:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Take-Nancy-Blodgett-Klein/dp/B0HGBTD36V
Bio:
Nancy Blodgett Klein worked as a journalist as well as a magazine editor in the Chicagoland area for much of her career after receiving a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University.
Later on, she earned a master’s degree in education from Roosevelt University. She worked as a bilingual teacher to mostly Mexican students. In 2017, she retired to Spain with her husband Rick Klein. She has published six books since she retired. Nancy also keeps busy with yoga, singing in a choir, and participating in a writers’ group and two book groups.
Blogs:
Esther Chilton 
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