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The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants

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The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants

By: Orlando Ortega-Medina
Narrated by: Geoffrey Scheer
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About this listen

Award-winning author and immigration attorney Orlando Ortega-Medina returns to 1990s San Francisco in The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants, a powerful family drama that plays out within a captivating legal thriller.

Attorney Marc Mendes, the estranged son of a prominent Rabbi and a burned-out lawyer with addiction issues, plots his exit from the big city to a more peaceful life in idyllic Napa Valley. But before realizing his dream, the US government summons his Salvadoran life partner Isaac Perez to immigration court, threatening him with deportation.

As Marc battles to save Isaac, his world is further upended by a dark and alluring client who aims to tempt him away from his messy life. Torn between his commitment to Isaac and the pain-numbing escapism offered by his client, Marc is forced to choose between the lesser of two evils while confronting his twin demons of past addiction and guilt over the death of his first lover.

Inspired by events that forced the author and his partner to emigrate from the United States because of marriage inequality, The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants is an extraordinary and timely tale about the value of family, friendship, loyalty, and love in the face of adversity.

©2023 Orlando Ortega-Medina (P)2022 Orlando Ortega-Medina
Fiction Historical Fiction Romance United States

Critic Reviews

"There's plenty of drama inside and outside the courtroom…plus stalking and 90s homophobia–in this deeply moving novel with depth and heart that explores how difficult it is to find a place called home in a world filled with hate." (Lev Raphael, author of Winter Eyes)

"The thrills in this legal thriller come not only from its plot but also from its rich portrait of the varieties of American estrangement." (Michael Lowenthal, author of Sex with Stranger)

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