The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants

by Orlando Ortega-Medina

Overview

SHORTLISTED FOR THE UK POLARI BOOK PRIZE 2024

Kirkus Reviews "BEST OF 2023" SELECTION.

International Latino Book Awards 2024—Best LGBTQ+ Themed Book (Honorable Mention)

Award-winning author and immigration attorney Orlando Ortega-Medina returns to 1990s San Francisco in The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants, a powerful family drama that plays out within a captivating legal thriller.

Attorney Marc Mendes, the estranged son of a prominent rabbi and a burned-out lawyer with addiction issues, plots his exit from the big city to a more peaceful life in idyllic Napa Valley. But before he can realize his dream, the US government summons his Salvadoran life-partner Isaac Perez to immigration court, threatening him with deportation.

As Marc battles to save Isaac, his world is further upended by a dark and alluring client, who aims to tempt him away from his messy life. Torn between his commitment to Isaac and the pain-numbing escapism offered by his client, Marc is forced to choose between the lesser of two evils while confronting his twin demons of past addiction and guilt over the death of his first lover.

The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants is an extraordinary and timely tale about the value of family and friendship, loyalty and love, in the face of adversity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612942636
Publisher:	Bywater Books MI
Publication date:	04/18/2023
Pages:	335
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Orlando Ortega-Medina was born in Los Angeles to Cuban immigrants. He studied English Literature at UCLA and holds a Juris Doctor from Southwestern UniversitySchool of Law. In 1999, Ortega-Medina and his partner expatriated to Canada, where they were among the first same-sex couples to marry at Montreal’s Hotel de Ville in 2005.

Ortega-Medina is the author of three novels and a short story collection shortlisted for the UK’s Polari First Book Prize. In 2018, he was named the Marilyn Hassid Emerging Author for the Houston Jewish Book & Arts Festival. Ortega-Medina and his partner now live in London, England, where he practices US immigration law and writes fiction.

Website: www.orlandoortegamedina.com
Twitter: @oortegamedina
Facebook: www.facebook.com/orlandoortegamedina

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“There's plenty of drama inside and outside the courtroom with an all-too-human hero who's a recovering addict, estranged from his deeply religious family, and in a tempestuous relationship with a refugee from El Salvador. Ortega-Medina seamlessly blends these elements—plus stalking and 90s homophobia—in a deeply moving novel with depth and heart that explores how difficult it is to find a place called home in a world filled with hate.” —Lev Raphael, author of Assault with a Deadly Lie

“Orlando Ortega-Medina has written a compelling novel set within fraught familial, religious, legal and romantic realities of gay love.” —Rabbi Steven Greenberg, author of Wrestling with God & Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition

“Orlando Ortega-Medina’s The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants is equal parts love story, legal thriller, and social commentary that powerfully—and seamlessly—weaves together disparate narratives to produce a provocative, big-hearted page-turner of a novel. All the while, the author does not shy away from big issues such as homophobia, our broken immigration system, parental disapproval, and religious heritage. But at the center of this book is one person’s search for love and meaning. The result is a story that will intrigue and move readers with its eloquence and humanity. What a triumph!” —Daniel A. Olivas, author of How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories

Editorial Reviews

...a potent legal thriller that doesn’t shy away from major personal and societal issues.” —Los Angeles Times

“Full of twists and turns, this novel explores the inhumanity found in immigration law and the true meaning of loyalty.” —Today

“An exposé of the cruelties of immigration law; a meditation on family and homeland.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Heartfelt.” —Publishers Weekly

“Stuffed with romantic melodrama, sex, seduction, and the serpentine politics of immigration, this novel is a tantalizing morsel.” —Bay Area Reporter

“[A] charged psychological novel in which a lawyer navigates the crossroads of his past, present, and future.” —Foreword Reviews

“[A] noteworthy novel that will have resonance for many readers.” —Out In Print

“Orlando Ortega-Medina’s riveting novel The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants wears its politics on its sleeve...In novelising his advocacy for equal rights, Ortega-Medina follows a long tradition in American literature.” —Bookanista

“The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants shows that what we thoughts was great fiction from the author previously was but an alright opening serve. This latest work has raised the bar significantly.” —The Worm Hole

From the Publisher

★ 2022-10-27
A gay lawyer copes with relationship problems, addiction, and a seductive stalker in this twisty thriller.

San Francisco attorney Marc Mendes seems to have it made, with a thriving employment-law practice and a blissful relationship with his boyfriend, Isaac Perez. But problems percolate, including his struggle to maintain sobriety after years of drug abuse; his estrangement from his father, Gabriel, a Syrian Cuban American rabbi and Talmudic jurist who frowns on homosexuality; and Isaac’s precarious position as an undocumented refugee from El Salvador. (It’s 1997, so Isaac can’t marry Marc to gain legal residency.) Infinitely complicating things is Alejandro Silva, Marc’s client in a workplace sexual harassment lawsuit that starts to go south when it emerges that Alejandro is on parole from a manslaughter conviction and has a history of sketchy imbroglios with older gay men. Young, handsome, and edgy, Alejandro also bears a strong resemblance to Simon, Marc’s first love, who died tragically. When Alejandro starts coming on to him, Marc is captivated despite his better judgment. The infatuation strains Marc’s relationship with the jealous Isaac, who is facing deportation, but when Marc pulls away, Alejandro only pursues him more cunningly and finally lures him into a night of drugs and debauchery that imperils his future with Isaac. Ortega-Medina’s novel works on many levels—as a twisty romantic melodrama; as an exposé of the cruelties of immigration law; and as a meditation on family and homeland that grows more poignant as Gabriel, with his own history of migration and loss, warms to Marc’s bond with Isaac. Ortega-Medina’s prose captures characters’ psychologies in the subtleties of gesture and language, and he makes Alejandro into an electrifying homme fatal who gets under Marc’s skin with his coy, tantalizing advances. (“Noticing my distraction, a faint blush colored his cheeks, and he sat up. ‘You like this, don’t you?’ He touched his index finger to his birthmark….‘You couldn’t take your eyes off it the first time we met at your office.’ ”) Readers will enjoy watching Alejandro throw a monkey wrench into everyone’s best-laid plans.

A riveting yarn with a charismatic tempter.

Kirkus Reviews