Brother, I'm Dying

Edwidge Danticat was raised by two fathers--by her natural father and by his brother, her uncle Joseph, who became a surrogate father for eight years after her parents emigrated to America. Brother, I'm Dying is the story of her attachment to her uncle Joseph, and the wrenchingly complicated emotions she experienced when, at 12, she finally rejoined her parents. it's the story of adapting to a new life while continuing to fear for the safety of those left behind. And it is the story of a life and death: late in 2004, her 81-year-old uncle Joseph was forced to flee to the US where he was detained by Customs, brutally imprisoned, and died within days. His brother, sick and grieving, died soon after, but not before he held Edwidge's first-born, a girl who will bear his name into the next generation. Brother, I'm Dying is a true-life epic on an intimate scale: a tale of family and country, love and sorrow, and the triumph of hope over tragedy.