The
Latina Book Club continues to celebrate and honor our Fathers.
Here’s a
loving tale about a Dad who is a true hero to his family and his town;
and
an inspiration to men everywhere.
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.—Maya Angelou
And for the cruel person who tears out the heart with which I live, I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns; I cultivate a white rose.—José Marti
It’s your family, your friends, and our belief in one another that count most in the end.—Ramón Carrasquillo.
“Ramón
León Carrasquillo had a powerful premonition. Something extraordinary was about
to happen.”
 |
| Floricanto Press |
So
opens LUCK IS JUST THE BEGINNING, a novel by Celeste León based on her father’s
true story. It’s a beautiful, inspiring,
mesmerizing tale written by a loving daughter to honor the man and father she admires
most.
But don’t
think this is just another emotional retelling of a father’s life. Oh no, LUCK IS JUST THE BEGINNING is a heroic
adventure. Our hero Ramón wins the gold, but then faces demons from every
quarter. He is challenged repeatedly and
comes close to losing his life a few times, and, in true champion style, our
Hero rallies himself to conquer all evil and save the day.
Ramón
Carrasquillo is a hero not only to his family, but to the town of Maunabo as
well. He was the seventh child, born in
a caul on the seventh day of the seventh month. On November 17, 1944, he saw
numbers in the clouds and had a strong urge to play the lottery. He did and he
won, and so his life changed forever.
Ramón
wasn’t frivolous. He didn’t want the money
for a house or a car; he wanted to use that money to fulfill a promise he made
to his old mentor; a promise to become a dentist and open a clinic for his
village.
But
with his good fortune came the bad – a long line of people begging, even
demanding, that he helped them; friends who promise to help him succeed getting
into college but for a price; an aloof girl who suddenly welcomed his courtship
but in the end would not marry him; dark temptations that prove hard to resist;
and worse of all an enemy who threatened his life and his integrity.
LUCK IS
JUST THE BEGINNING is also about paradoxes.
Good and bad fortunes. It’s about
winning the lottery and gaining enemies.
It’s about winning the girl but not her hand. It’s about helping your family but losing your
friends. It’s about fighting for your country but not winning its respect.
But
luckily, this novel is also about admitting your mistakes and correcting
them. It’s about paying bad actions with
good ones. It’s about being honorable
and faithful; and most of all, it’s about being true to yourself. Hard lessons all true Heroes most learn. Lessons Ramon learned and lived. He changed his actions to positive ones, and
in doing so changed the fortunes of his family and his beloved town.
Celeste
León has good reason to be proud of her heroic father, and after reading this
novel, readers will also be cheering for this Hero Dad.###
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Celeste León is an award winning
author. Her debut novel, LUCK
IS JUST THE BEGINNING, was awarded Finalist in the Multicultural
Fiction Category in the 2016 International
Book Awards and the Mariposa Award for Best First Book in
the 2016 International
Latino Book Awards.
Celeste
was named “One of Ten Latina
Writers to Watch and Read” by The Latina Book Club, and shortly
thereafter they published this interview in honor of Women’s History Month
(March): Beyond a Stroke of
Luck: An Interview with Celeste León by Teresa Dovalpage.
Celeste is a 2013 alumna
of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. She is the recipient of First Prize
in the annual contest for the High Sierra Writers group
in Reno, Nevada for her essay, Finding Home, about her travels
to Puerto Rico in search of her family roots. When Supreme Court Justice Sonia
Sotomayor read the piece, she said, “If your work on your short story reflects
your work on your book, it will be successful.” The piece was also a finalist
in the 2014 annual contest for The Preservation
Foundation. Celeste is a physical therapist and lives in
Truckee, CA with her family. Visit her social media sites:
For 2016 International
Book Awards announcement, click here.
To watch her NPR
interview, click here.
Here’s
to our first heroes – our Dads.
Thank you
for loving us and inspiring us.
Happy
Father’s Day….every day!
READ
LATINO