Summary

The novel starts in medias res in 2009, as Maya Vidal, age 19, is shipped from San Francisco to Chiloé, an archipelago in Chile, by her grandmother Nidia. Maya has been in some undisclosed trouble, and is possibly being hunted by the FBI, Interpol, and Las Vegas drug dealers. Maya was raised by her Chilean grandmother (Nini) and African American grandfather (her Popo, Nini’s second husband). Maya’s pilot father Andres (also known as Andy) was always away working and her Danish mother abandoned her soon after her birth. Nidia and Andres immigrated to Canada after the Chilean military coup in 1974. Nidia soon met and married Paul Ditson II (Popo), an astronomy professor who took her home to Berkley, California. Nidia has arranged for Maya to disappear in Chiloé, where Nidia’s old friend Manuel Arias has agreed to let Maya stay...