Twisted Cross

Teens

synopsis

Synopsis

In 1795, eighteen-year-old Salvador Tenorio and his best friend, Blas, embark upon the most adventurous journey of their lives, leaving their impoverished families and painful memories behind in Imperial Spain. On a quest to find adventure, the clever young Spaniard battles the demons of his past and religious uncertainty on an epic expedition to the New World.

Determined to make the best out of their challenging circumstances, they aspire to claw their way out of poverty. Sal and Blas discover more than they ever imagined as they witness the fragmented cultures of California’s native people. Tangling with corrupted padres and escaping from ruthless pirates, they realize that all that glitters is not gold. Sal and Blas must quickly learn the rules of the sea and the new western frontier—or die trying. Can Sal handle his own twisted secrets and rise from the depths of his past while discovering his own purpose in life?

bio

Author Biography

Dr. Perez Ferguson is a cross-cultural educator and consultant. Her fiction brings to life the voices of California inhabitants living 200 years ago. She has twice won the Best YA Fiction Award from the San Francisco Writers Conference, 2021 and 2022.

Regarding Broken Promises:

"The tightly 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 her." — Kirkus Reviews

Her non-fiction promotes the voices of under-represented communities in the twenty-first century. This earned her the 2014 Lacayo Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute. She is an Advisor and Former Chair for the InterAmerican Foundation and a former Visiting Lecturer for the Council for Independent Colleges. She enjoys living and writing on the Pacific coast.

website

Author Insight

Teens Know Life

Are teens ready to read about death and God? The question never occurred to me when I wrote Twisted Cross. Later I was told teachers, librarians, and parents do not accept serious subjects outside of a fantasy or war story. But what about the teen readers? They know the issues we face in this world. Students know some people have firm religious beliefs and others have none. They have their own beliefs and doubts. The characters in Twisted Cross are not good boys solving hometown mysteries. They are lost kids scrambling to survive and overcome misery. We read, feel, and hope for a better world when we visit the hard places in life before we get there.

Book Excerpt

Twisted Cross

Eaten Alive

T he swarms of mosquitos in Vera Cruz were taking a toll on those who survived the sea voyage. The group of bedraggled travelers now faced a long treacherous march west to the capital of the Mexican territory known as New Spain.

“Get a move on,” a soldier said.

“¿Y por què? Why bury them?” Sal asked. “These bodies will only rot in this jungle, like all of us.” The deaths were so frequent their travel was delayed by weeks. Sal rolled the body of one of the Brothers into a shallow grave. For a moment, the dead man looked like Blas. Sal couldn’t help himself from murmuring a prayer in secret.

“Please let us survive,” Sal said. Did he still believe God heard his prayers? No! “Mìra,Blas, these holy men die too. Where’s their precious God now?” He knew Blas still believed in his religious training. How could he believe in a God who let so many men die? The ship lost half the crew since the day they set sail in Cadiz. Many of the men were already buried at sea.

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Anita Perez Ferguson

Twisted Cross

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

Teens Know Life

Book Excerpt

Twisted Cross

Eaten Alive

Comment on this Bubble