Illusions of More: A Novel

ELL teacher, Sienna O'Mara, is the only person in Purewater with time allocated to give nine-year-old Pilar the basic language skills and the compassion an orphaned refugee needs. In Sienna's class, dubbed The Writers' Lair, Pilar struggles to make sense of disturbing memories. A mispronunciation sends Sienna to a local Saturday swap meet. Marigolds, the best mole sauce in the state, and a gift from an enigmatic art dealer induct her into a sacred mystery originating in Mexico. As Sienna researches the devastation of Pilar's home village, high-stakes testing, mandated text books, and shadowy objectives stalk Moore Elementary School. During an unwitting ritual on El Día de Los Muertos, Sienna's job is threatened and a haunting voice that no one ever expected to arise in the United States emerges to reveal what is being erased even before it has a chance to be written. In this shattering, heartwarming, and redemptive novel, readers are given the unique opportunity to look beyond the illusions of more to remember how much lives- and dies- in a story.