Book Review
From Chelsea Weibley at the Library

The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez

“What he saw as he stared across that vast chasm was not simply a canal, but a great divide that would sever Panama in two.”

1907, Panama – It’s a place of opportunity for many who are eager to find work helping divide the great mountain and create the Panama Canal. It’s also a place of tragedy for many who are losing homes and their lives through the making of the Canal. In this story exploring the lives of those involved in this significant historical event we follow characters representing different perspectives.

One teenage girl left her home in Barbados to earn money necessary to save her sister who is in need of a surgery.

A man from the United States and his wife move to the area to study and work toward eradicating malaria.

A lonely Panamanian young man seeks to work on building the Canal to feel a connection with something bigger than what he has known.

As we explore this time and place, we learn more about the effect the Canal’s creation had on the people of Panama. The author explores the society at the time and the descriptions of the setting of Panama during the rainy season feel so real. This is a beautiful, enlightening and tragic story about a major event in history.

Check out The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez for yourself from the Library (https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…) or through the eLibrary at https://lclibs.overdrive.com/media/9974856.