Sanctuary Review

WOW. What a book to start with.

I picked this up based on the gorgeous cover design. With the pandemic in full swing, and now smoke from wildfires blotting out my sky, I’ve been having trouble with dystopias. This book technically falls into that category, but, horrifyingly, Vali’s world doesn’t read all that different from ours. The 2032 of the book seems totally plausible. And that’s what makes it such an urgent read.

In 2032, an unnamed president has made it law that every citizen is microchipped. Hysteria over undocumented immigrants has only grown in this new America, and it comes to a head when a 15-year-old girl is killed by a landmine at the US–Mexico border. Riots begin, California protests and secedes, and the president introduces the Deportation Force to detain suspected immigrants and put them in labor camps.

Vali Ramirez and her family are undocumented Colombian immigrants, living as close to under the radar as possible in Vermont. When it becomes more dangerous for them to stay than to leave, they flee to New York City, but the Deportation Force intervenes before they arrive. Grieving her detained mother and now responsible for her brother, Vali is forced to lead them cross-country toward the promise of sanctuary in California.

Though the book suggests some new technology (presidential holograms, driverless buses, drones), it’s easy to see how our world could turn into Vali’s. Besides the senseless discrimination and hatred, one of the elements I found most chilling was the nods to climate change: Vali has never seen snow, even in Vermont, and almost every state she crosses is hot and barren.

As a narrator, Vali moves seamlessly between a normal 16-year-old and someone dealing with trauma after impossible trauma. She matures over the course of the book and becomes a leader of sorts in all the groups she encounters. Without saying too much about the ending, it felt realistic as well. It’s hard to call a book like this satisfying, but its conclusion held onto hope while being heartbreaking and radicalizing.

Authors Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher have done something incredible here. Anyone and everyone should read it.

I give the first Book In My Basket 5/5 stars.