One Year of Ugly

 One Year of Ugly by Caroline Mackenzie (2020) 325 pages

Yola Palacios is 24, living in Trinidad with her parents, brother, and sister. Her family, and that of an uncle and two aunts, fled Venezuela for Trinidad and lack documentation. It's tough enough for them to make a living under the radar, but it gets even more challenging when Aunt Celia dies and a mobster called Ugly shows up at a family gathering to announce that Celia owed him a large debt. He demands that the four households of family members all work off Celia's debt by taking in other undocumented citizens from Venezuela that he's moving to Trinidad. They don't really have a choice because of their undocumented status, plus Ugly's ruthlessness. When Ugly's strongman Román shows up, Yola finds her instant attraction to him reciprocated, but she tries to fight it for a time. Once started, their relationship must be kept secret for her family's safety and for Román's safety, as well. The stakes get even higher for the whole family when Aunt Milagros's mental health suffers from the stress and she starts acting bizarrely.

This debut novel is based on stories of real refugees that the author got to know when she worked as a legal translator in Trinidad. Splashes of humor and humanity made me unable to put down the book.