There are two parallel narratives in this dual-language (Spanish/English) edition of a short but haunting novel first published in Colombia. In the first, five siblings ranging in age from five to 12 have been left to fend for themselves after their mother dies and their father leaves them, telling them to take care of each other and stay together while he supposedly searches for work. In the second, a young girl, Nina, has been left in an orphanage after her parents were imprisoned for their political activity. Both Nina and the siblings wait in desperation for parents to return and, in the meantime, try to manage without them. The siblings’ story weaves in and out of all five children’s minds, with the older children feeling the burden of responsibility. Desperate for work, Hector, the oldest, is promised a high-paying job by an enigmatic older boy named Julian and soon finds himself selling drugs. Meanwhile, Nina is learning how to survive the bullies at the orphanage, and when a boy she doesn't know steps in to defend her and then disappears, she searches for him. He’s called The Immortal Boy because, according to rumor, he can’t be killed. Nina becomes obsessed with finding and befriending him, and slowly, she forges a friendship of sorts. The rising tension in the story comes not just from how these children fare, but also in the relationship between the two storylines as it gradually becomes clear. (Age 12 and older)

"It is not easy to find a novel that addresses in such a sincere, courageous and profound way a subject such as abandonment, neglect and contempt suffered by so many children and young people in Colombia, a country where loneliness, mistreatment, violence and pain is accompanied by everyday indifference and contempt. It is less common for the approach to this painful reality to reach such a degree of sensitivity and poetry as those achieved in The Immortal Boy"--