In Bogotá, Columbia we find Chula and her family living in a comfortable gated community. Despite their relative isolation, they cannot escape the realities of life outside their privilege. Car bombs, kidnappings, power outages, droughts, and the constant threat of violence from either the paramilitary, guerillas, or Pablo Escobar himself plague the entire country.

Chula's family hires Petrona, a girl from a local "invasión" who lived a very different life from Chula. Chula becomes fascinated by her family's new maid, and is determined to understand her. Through this fascination, she slowly begins to piece together the danger that Petrona might be in.

The narration in this novel is phenomenal, alternating between Chula and Petrona. Each narrator has her own mottled view of the world which Ingrid Rojas Contreras does an incredible job of developing. The innocence and confusion of Chula, age 9, allows the emotions of the story to take the center stage - not the political events happening at the time. Petrona, being 15 years old and a little older than Chula, has a more clear view of the world but her stubbornness and youth pour in through the cracks. These two girls advance the story in a way that a third person narrator would not be able to. I became extremely attached to the narrators, and the other characters as well. It was hard not to love Chula's family after hearing the way she and Petrona both speak about them.

This book is as much a coming of age novel as it is the elevation of an important voice. We talk about refugees and immigrants in the news everyday, but rarely stop to consider the trauma these individuals went through. Fruit of the Drunken Tree was beautiful, heartbreaking, and educational all at once. I am adding it to my shortlist of books to recommend! Thank you #NetGalley for the free copy for review!