Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

Antonia is a recent widow- drifting on a turbulent sea and unsure of where a port is. Her sisters all look to her for guidance so when one of them, a particularly eccentric sister, goes missing they call Antonia. Others look to Antonia for guidance as well and she helps translate the migrant workers of her neighbor's farm. One of them needs more than a translation and Antonia soon finds herself helping a very pregnant Mexican teen who is lost in a country she is little prepared for. Caught between trying to be there for all of them and not losing herself in the process is difficult but in doing so she just might find the anchor she needs. Simple prose but vibrant and soul searching, this is a story of what it means to be a good person and trying to hang onto those ties of family.