Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co.
Maria Amparo Escandon, 2005
Crown Publishing
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781400097357
Summary
Serving a sentence in a prison in Mexico, Libertad Gonzalez finds a clever way to pass the time with the weekly Library Club, reading to her fellow inmates from whatever books she can find in the prison’s meager supply.
The story that emerges, though, has nothing to do with the words printed on the pages. She tells of a former literature professor and fugitive of the Mexican government who reinvents himself as a trucker in the United States. There he falls in love with a wild woman with whom he shares his truck and his life—that is until Joaquin Gonzalez unexpectedly finds himself alone on the road with a baby girl and Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co. is born.
Joaquin and his daughter make the cab of an 18-wheeler their home, sharing everything—adventures, books, truck-stop chow, and memories of the girl’s mother—until one day the girl grows into a woman, and a chance encounter with one man causes her to rebel against another.
With her stories, Libertad enthralls a group of female prisoners every bit as eccentric as the tales she tells. In Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co., bestselling author Maria Amparo Escandon seamlessly blends together these elements into one compelling and unexpected conclusion that will have you cheering for Libertad and filled with joy. (From the publisher.)