At age 17, Ernesto fell on the 'wrong side' of a dangerous criminal gang, and his life was in danger.Īrriving in the United States was not an easy trip.

Ernesto always dreamed of visiting the north one day, while Raúl did not share the same interest for the United States as his 'hermanos lejanos' (his 'faraway brothers') who lived there.įinally, it was necessity what drove them to escape.

Raised in a rural village in El Salvador in the years before the civil war, Ernesto and Raúl Flores (the author used fictitious names to protect their identities) always had a fascination for the United States, the land of opportunity. It was in Oakland where Markham, who works in immigration at Oakland International High School, met the Flores twins up close, as reported in The San Francisco Examiner. Alone, they managed to cross the Rio Grande and the Texas desert to reach Oakland, California, where their elder brother lived. The book, winner of the 2018 Ridenhour Book Prize and finalist of the LA Times Awards (among other recognitions), tells the story of the Flores twins, who at age 17 decided to abandon the violence and poverty of El Salvador and undertake the trip to the United States in search of a better life. Immigrant Heritage Month is about to begin, so it is worth remembering the book published last year by California journalist and writer Lauren Markham, 'The Faraway Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life.'

The far away brothers lauren markham