Summary

The Author's Note at the end of the work attempts to address some of the controversy that has arisen following the work's publication. Cummins begins the work with statistics regarding the number of migrant deaths in 2017. She amplifies this note by addressing the fact that many migrant deaths are never reported. As she does in the novel itself, she compares this grave issue to the mundane: "maybe the number [of deaths] is more like two hundred deaths for each load of laundry I do" (379). She emphasizes that "the cartels operate with impunity" (379).

Cummins then offers some information regarding her personal history and her connections to the issue of immigration. She married an undocumented immigrant and tells of her fears that he could potentially be deported. She also discloses her own association with trauma: "When I was sixteen, two of my cousins were brutally...