Fabiola Toussaint

Fabiola Toussaint is a 16-year-old Haitian immigrant. She is the protagonist of the novel, and almost the entire narrative is written from her perspective using first-person narration. Fabiola is an American citizen because her mother, Valerie Toussaint, briefly visited America so that Fabiola could be born there. Fabiola then grew up in Haiti with her mother, and she was educated in Haiti with financial help from her mother’s sister, Jo Francois, who immigrated to the United States years ago with her husband. In the novel, Fabiola comes to America with her mother to live with her aunt and cousins in Detroit, Michigan. However, Fabiola’s mother is detained due to overstaying her visa the last time she was in the United States.

In Detroit, Fabiola tries to figure out how to free her mother while also dealing with the challenges of navigating the many unfamiliar elements...