It's Hard to Kill a Bougainvillea: From Slavery to the American Dream

For every soul who has endured the unthinkable or is carrying scars from battles you never asked for, this book will show you that survival is only the beginning to truly living.This unforgettable true story follows a little girl whose life is shattered by unimaginable tragedy. After a series of devastating events plunge her mother into a deep depression, young Chelo witnesses her mother’s horrific suicide—an act that fractures her world forever. Destitute and overwhelmed in 1930s Havana, Cuba, her father abandons his daughters, leaving them to the mercy of a neighbor who places a mattress under a stairwell where the girls lived for years. At just ten years old, Chelo’s father reappears—not to save her, but to sell her into slavery to a wealthy sugar-cane plantation owner. She becomes a maid and nanny to the owner’s three children, working from dawn until exhaustion. Yet even in captivity, her spirit refuses to break. At seventeen, during a family trip to New York, Chelo sees her chance at freedom. Armed only with a fourth-grade education, not knowing a single word of English, and no money, she escapes into an unknown world—and rebuilds her life from nothing. Through grit, resilience, and sheer determination, that little girl becomes a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur. She opens her own dry cleaner, builds several homes and commercial buildings, and even opens a garment factory employing sixty seamstresses. Written by her daughter, Chelo’s journey will take you from the depths of despair to the heights of triumph and is a testament to a single truth. The human spirit is far more resilient than the circumstances that try to break it. Read more