“That’s part of the homesickness and trying to recreate a home when I was so far away, living in Hong Kong for all those years.” “A lot of the people featured in the book are an amalgamation or a collective and come from a historical fact of my life,” she said. While the novel isn’t autobiographical, the characters reflect people she knew growing up Angel-Ajani said they are all pieces of herself. “That declaration is a way she creates space in a lot of the same ways that especially first-generation immigrant kids have to make a claim of who they are even in the face of their parent’s positioning in the U.S.,” said Angel-Ajani. For Lara, rather than getting caught up on her mother’s attachment to the Soviet past, she’s working out who she is and who she will become. Her mother wishes she had a stronger relationship with Russian culture, and some neighbors in the Oasis Mobile Estates can’t fathom how she can have Black and Cuban heritage. Lara struggles against preconceived notions of who or how she should be. While her parents struggled to assimilate, Lara creates a uniquely American identity for herself, which creates some friction with her mother.

“A Country You Can Leave” centers on a biracial teenage girl named Lara and her bartender mother, Yevgenia, a defector from the Soviet Union who raises her daughter without the child’s Afro-Cuban father. “These are landscapes and experiences that are disappearing and being radically altered by climate change and development, so there is something that we both gain and lose from that.” “There is a part of California, even for those of us in the last 15-20 years, that we don’t recognize anymore,” Angel-Ajani said. Julie has been in touch with the police, but was notified the issue was a civil matter and has contacted a lawyer who explained the legal fees to recoup the money could also be substantial.A Stanford University graduate with a doctorate in Anthropology and an MFA in creative writing, Angel-Ajani grew up in Riverside County in an unincorporated area near Perris, and the changes to the Inland Empire were on her mind as she wrote. How these people sleep at night I have no idea.' I just wanted to move on with my life and put my trust in these builders. It has been so awful, not just for me but four other families as well. She said: 'This has been an absolute nightmare, I have just had enough. It was her own widowed dad who stepped in and paid the deposit and additional cash while her divorce was being finalised. In an added blow to Julie and her children, the new home was to be a fresh start for them following Julie's separation from their father. They said, 'we can't pay you back until we resell them and if we don't sell them at the higher price then we will go into liquidation'.' 'I obviously said no and 'what about my money I paid for the flooring etc'. They told us in a meeting that instead of the £225,000 I had agreed to pay for the house, that they wanted to resell them for £265,000.

'It is not right what they have done to me and the four other families who are involved in this. Julie added: 'They have effectively stolen my money. Kingston Residential Investments said on Friday it is 'not in a good financial position right now' but will pay everyone back. She also forked out and extra £7,000 for a kitchen, flooring and extra fittings, the Paisley Daily Express reports.Īfter several delays she learned the developer was withdrawing from the sale, and as a result of a clause in the contract, was holding on to her £2,000 deposit.Īfter refusing to stump up the extra £40,000, Julie says she has been unable to get the £7,000 back either.

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