The Infinite

September 5, 2016
“Sometimes the wrong turn is the only turn offered” is the anthem of the ill-fated characters who wade through post-Katrina New Orleans and cartel-ravaged Mexico in Mainieri’s engrossing debut novel about finding one’s place in the world. Luz Hidalgo is a teenage undocumented Latina brought to New Orleans during the post-Katrina construction boom that lured her unemployed single father. She loves 18-year-old Jonah McBee, an orphan who shares her sense of loss and inconstancy, and Luz soon becomes pregnant. Unable to provide for her, Luz’s father sends her back to her grandmother in Mexico, disregarding Jonah’s tepid plans to enlist in the army to care for his new family. When Jonah doesn’t hear from her, he drives to Mexico, unaware that she has encountered a violent run-in with the Mexican Gulf drug cartel that has plunged her into a web of bloodshed and altered her world forever. Jonah shows up at her door, but Luz is dramatically different, and the two must reconcile all that has changed between them and find a new path, now that the old one has vanished. Mainieri’s novel is a pertinent dissection of place, class, roots, and identity. Agent: Elizabeth Copps, Maria Carvainis Agency.

September 1, 2016
Luz Hidalgo, who runs high-school track, and homeboy Jonah McBee are star-crossed lovers in Mainieri's debut novel. Luz has followed her father to New Orleans after the death of her mother, and Jonah, left on his own, is contemplating military recruitment, even though his older brother was killed in Afghanistan. Their prospects as an undocumented immigrant and a marginalized orphan are not optimal in post-Katrina New Orleans, and their vague hopes for lives of their own choosing come crashing down altogether when Luz discovers she is pregnant. Her papa sends her back to her abuela (grandmother) on a trip that leaves beautiful Luz fighting for her life amid the narco wars infesting northern Mexico. Although Jonah's pursuit of Luz is less perilous, nothing works out as either of them anticipated. This double bildungsroman unfolds in chapters alternating between Luz's and Jonah's points of view and between Luz's home pueblo, Las Monarcas, and Jonah's hometown, New Orleans. Mainieri presents a striking tale of two resilient and resourceful young adults as they set their sights on a tenuous future.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)