Lucky Boy

By: Shanthi Sekaran

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani, Roxana Ortega

A gripping tale of adventure and searing reality, Lucky Boy gives voice to two mothers bound together by their love for one lucky boy.

“Sekaran has written a page-turner that’s touching and all too real.”—People

“A fiercely compassionate story about the bonds and the bounds of motherhood and, ultimately, of love.”—Cristina Henríquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans

Eighteen years old and fizzing with optimism, Solimar Castro-Valdez embarks on a perilous journey across the Mexican border. Weeks later, she arrives in Berkeley, California, dazed by first love found then lost, and pregnant. This was not the plan. Undocumented and unmoored, Soli discovers that her son, Ignacio, can become her touchstone, and motherhood her identity in a world where she’s otherwise invisible.

Kavya Reddy has created a beautiful life in Berkeley, but then she can’t get pregnant and that beautiful life seems suddenly empty. When Soli is placed in immigrant detention and Ignacio comes under Kavya’s care, Kavya finally gets to be the singing, story-telling kind of mother she dreamed of being. But she builds her love on a fault line, her heart wrapped around someone else’s child.

“Nacho” to Soli, and “Iggy” to Kavya, the boy is steeped in love, but his destiny and that of his two mothers teeters between two worlds as Soli fights to get back to him. Lucky Boy is a moving and revelatory ode to the ever-changing borders of love.

Great Read

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. An absolute must read. The narration was clear and entertaining.

Leaves a lot to think about.

Interesting adventure but it opens the mind to some important issues that do not have any good solutions in our imperfect world. Mistakes were made, but they were honest mistakes albeit illegal. They were born out of hearts that were driven by a desire/need for a better and happier life with no intention of hurting anyone. It is hard for me to blame anyone for that.

Great book!

I really enjoyed this book. It gave me insight to many sides of immigration, the challenges we have in our system and how both women in the story had to live with sorrow and heartbreak. I thought it would be easy to find one point of view "right" and the other "wrong", but instead saw the story from both sides and feel for both women.

This book is a page-turner for sure!

Would you consider the audio edition of Lucky Boy to be better than the print version?

Loved listening to this book. I'm sure the print version would be just as engaging!

Laura

This is my new favorite book! I loved it. The characters and the little boy, the author wrote it so well the reader could totally picture it all happening. I plan on reading more books by this author.