The Accidental Native

When Rennie's parents die, he does what they would have wanted and buries them in Puerto Rico, their homeland. There, he's shocked to discover that the woman who raised him was not his biological mother. A high-powered attorney, his birth mother Julia is determined to reclaim the son she gave up many years before.

Adrift, with no family and haunted by memories, Rennie is swayed by Julia's constant pleading that he moves to the island. A teaching job in Puerto Rico decides it, and he finds himself flying "home." Once there, he must deal with Julia's strong-willed nature, a department chair not thrilled to have a Nuyorican on staff, squatters living in his house and a lover anxious to settle down. Most disturbing is the rumor that numerous people are dying from cancer because the campus, a former U.S. military base, is full of buried munitions.

Rennie soon finds himself working to expose the government's lies, though he risks losing his job, his home and even the woman he loves.

J.L. TORRES is the author of a short-story collection, The Family Terrorist and Other Stories (Arte Público Press, 2008). His stories and poetry have been published widely in anthologies and magazines. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in the South Bronx, he currently lives with his family in upstate New York, where he teaches American literature and creative writing at SUNY, Plattsburgh.