About the Book

Stay With Me by Sandra Rodriguez Barron is a gripping and deftly written novel about the meaning of family and the bonds that create one’s history. Provocative and character-rich, Stay With Me grippingly explores the mystery behind the pasts of five toddlers who were stranded on a boat and left drifting in the ocean, and the aftermath, many years later. Literary giant Isabel Allende has raved about this author’s work, saying, "Rodriguez Barron’s exuberant prose yields an immensely entertaining reading experience."

In 1979, five toddlers were found alone in a luxury boat tied to a dock in Puerto Rico after a devastating hurricane. No one knew who they were or where they came from. Raised by different families, they remained connected by a special bond—always considering themselves siblings, despite their unknown blood relations.

Now adults, Taina, Holly, Adrian, and Raymond have been summoned by the fifth, David, to an island off the coast of Connecticut and the family home of David's ex-girlfriend, Julia. But along with the joy of reuniting comes the exposure of raw places, jealousy, and childhood sorrows. Having been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer—and experiencing flashbacks to the time before the hurricane—David believes that healing his relationship with Julia and discovering his origins will strengthen his ability to endure and survive. David pushes the people he loves the most to their emotional breaking points in order to uncover the truth about the mystery that both unites and divides them.

Intensely gripping and lyrically written, Stay with Me is a magnificent blend of romance, suspense, atmosphere, and intrigue that brilliantly explores the true meaning of family and the remarkable ways a personal history can paint a future.

(Published by
HarperCollins Publishers)

About the Author

Sandra Rodriguez Barron is the author of The Heiress of Water, winner of the International Latino Book Award for debut fiction. The recipient of a Bread Loaf Fellowship and a National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Grant, she was born in Puerto Rico, lived in the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, and now lives with her family in Connecticut.

About the Guest Interviewer

Ydalmi Noriega, Chicago coordinator for Las Comadres, is a fiction writer who explores characters’ struggles with identity and purpose through fiction. Each day her characters negotiate the balance between responsibility and pleasure. She is currently working on a novel titled Crudes that is narrated by a 10-year-old boy whose family leaves their soon-to-be-foreclosed home. Like her short stories, Crudes examines the building of identity through consumerism and the different manifestations of ownership in our daily lives.

Ydalmi studied economics and fiction writing. She spends her days serving as staffing manager for a Chicago recruitment firm. This allows her to devote early mornings and evenings to writing. She has lived in Chicago for eight years and a daily cafecito con leche in the afternoon keeps her connected to home in Rincon, Puerto Rico.