Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Julia Alvarez. I am currently interning at a publishing company and she is releasing a book this Spring called AFTERLIFE. Since she is such an amazing author, a bunch of bookstores pre-ordered signed copies, which meant that last Tuesday she spent the day in office signing copies. I was one of the lucky people assigned to help out with everything to make the process go smoothly.

First I’d like to start by saying that Julia was amazing. She is such a successful author and I wasn’t expecting her to be so talkative and friendly, but she was. Not only did she tell us hilarious stories and give us advice for our futures, but she also was genuinely interested in getting to know us. She asked about my schooling and past internships which was so cool. I kept having to pinch myself because I am a huge fan of hers so it was crazy to be talking to her like a colleague.

Now back to the book. It is an amazing story about sisterhood among a group of sisters who are adjusting to getting older. It is an interesting contrast to Julia’s older books where she described young sisterhood. However, her ability to describe the bond of sisters beautifully has not changed. It also teaches important and harsh truths about what it is like living as an undocumented citizen in this country. I think it is a very important book for our social climate and I can’t wait for it to come out so everyone can fall in love with the story like I did.

Now for a bit of a humble-brag, here is my signed copy (I’m not crying, you’re crying)