Broken Promises

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>2022 SFWC YA Fiction Writing Contest Winner</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong style=color: rgba(10 21 81 1)><span></span>The tightly</strong></p><p><span style=color: rgba(10 21 81 1)>wound plot flows effortlessly from one moment to the next.... readers will find themselves inspired by the future Sparrow creates for herself and those around</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(10 21 81 1)>her. - </span><strong style=color: rgba(10 21 81 1)><em>Kirkus Reviews</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Young Sparrow's dilemma had me wondering how she was going to make her way through such a tension-filled situation. I could almost see her growing up finding unexpected allies and using her mama's native skills as she faced the political firestorm of the 1840s in California. -Stephanie Foster author of <em>Take Action: Fighting for Women & Girls</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>In 1844 fifteen-year-old Sparrow fears what dilemmas her grown-up life will encounter. Sparrow's mother is from the Chumash nation whose territory borders the Pacific. Her father is an American trapper and trader sent by his government to explore the rich California land owned by Mexico. </span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Sparrow's difficulties are compounded when she learns her father also has an American wife and daughter. Then she overhears him making plans to overthrow the Mexican Governor of Alta California and acquire the Mexican lands for the United States. </span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Sparrow's tribal family and indigenous customs are threatened. She must decide if she will keep her father's secret and lose her homeland or warn her mother and the Mexican authorities but suffer the loss of her father's love.</span></p>