We Never Asked for Wings, Vanessa Diffenbaugh
We Never Asked for Wings, Vanessa Diffenbaugh
7 Rating(s)
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
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We Never Asked for Wings

Author: Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Narrator: Emma Bering, Robbie Daymond

Unabridged: 11 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/18/2015


Synopsis

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers comes her much-anticipated new novel about young love, hard choices, and hope against all odds.
 
For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children—Alex, fifteen, and Luna, just six—in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life.
 
Navigating this new terrain is challenging for Letty, especially as Luna desperately misses her grandparents and Alex, who is falling in love with a classmate, is unwilling to give his mother a chance. Letty comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives, but one wrong move could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and her family’s fragile hopes for the future.
 
Vanessa Diffenbaugh blends gorgeous prose with compelling themes of motherhood, undocumented immigration, and the American Dream in a powerful and prescient story about family.

Praise for We Never Asked for Wings
 
“Deftly blends family conflict with reassurance: Wings is like Parenthood with class and immigration issues added for gravitas.”—People (Book of the Week)
 
“This poignant story will stay in readers’ hearts long after the last page. . . . Diffenbaugh weaves in the plight of undocumented immigrants to her tale of first- and second-generation Americans struggling to make their way in America. Moving without being maudlin, this story avoids the stereotypes in its stark portrayal of mothers who just want the best for their children.”—RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)
 
“Diffenbaugh is a storyteller of the highest order: her simple but poetic prose makes even this most classically American story sing with a special kind of vulnerable beauty.”—Bustle
 
“[A] gripping, heartfelt exploration of a mother’s love, resilience and redemption.”—Family Circle
 
“Satisfying storytelling . . . Diffenbaugh delivers a heartwarming journey that mixes redemption and optimistic insight [and] confirms her gift for creating shrewd, sympathetic charmers.”—Kirkus Reviews

About The Author

Vanessa Diffenbaugh is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Language of Flowers, which was translated into more than forty languages. A mother of four, she lives with her husband in Monterey, California. In addition to being a writer, Vanessa Diffenbaugh is a passionate foster care advocate and sits on the board of Youth Villages, where she supports their mission to radically improve outcomes for America’s most vulnerable children and families.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Angela M on August 19, 2015

Vanessa Diffenbaugh in her second novel , covers some tough issues and the story is quite a bit edgier than The Language of Flowers . She focuses here on the realities of teenage pregnancy , parental responsibility, illegal immigration and bullying. In keeping with her nature theme which was flowers......more

Goodreads review by Amanda on May 29, 2017

I can’t remember the last time I set aside an afternoon to finish reading a book. I switched off everything electronic and enjoyed every page of 'We Never Asked For Wings'. I was a huge fan of Diffenbaugh’s 'The Language of Flowers' and I started reading this book as soon as I received a review copy......more

Goodreads review by Esil on August 20, 2015

3 1/2 stars. Despite its serious premise, my final thought on finishing We Never Asked for Wings is that it was a sweet story -- mostly good, but at times verging on a bit too sweet and superficial. The story starts quite dramatically with 33 year old Lettie abandoning her two children -- Alex age 1......more


Quotes

“Deftly blends family conflict with reassurance: Wings is like Parenthood with class and immigration issues added for gravitas.”People (Book of the Week)
 
“This poignant story will stay in readers’ hearts long after the last page. . . . [Vanessa] Diffenbaugh weaves in the plight of undocumented immigrants to her tale of first- and second-generation Americans struggling to make their way in America. Moving without being maudlin, this story avoids the stereotypes in its stark portrayal of mothers who just want the best for their children.”RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)
 
“Diffenbaugh is a storyteller of the highest order: her simple but poetic prose makes even this most classically American story sing with a special kind of vulnerable beauty.”Bustle
 
“[A] gripping, heartfelt exploration of a mother’s love, resilience and redemption.”Family Circle
 
“Satisfying storytelling . . . Diffenbaugh delivers a heartwarming journey that mixes redemption and optimistic insight [and] confirms her gift for creating shrewd, sympathetic charmers.”Kirkus Reviews

“I was hooked from the first breathtaking pages of We Never Asked for Wings, caring about this exquisitely vulnerable family, hoping right along with them on every page that each heart-rending, impossible choice would lead them somewhere better together.”—Lisa Genova, New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice
 
“Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s We Never Asked for Wings propels us into a mother’s heart as she and her family travel down a rocky path to understanding and forgiveness. With breathtaking imagery and lyrical prose, Diffenbaugh makes Letty’s growth from a troubled young mother to a responsible woman who learns to put her children first, but also allows herself the possibility of love, entirely believable. Hers is a hard-won victory you will cheer even as you wish this graceful, moving book would never end.”—Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator’s Wife