Books like 'The Thing Around Your Neck'
Readers who enjoyed The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & Adjoa Andoh also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary action / adventure literary-fiction historical-fiction poc-mc realistic family politics drama lgbtq
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American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsJeanine Cummins's American Dirt, the #1 New York Times bestseller and Oprah Book Club pick that has sold over two million copies, is finally available in paperback.Lydia lives in Acapulco. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist... -
![So Long, Chester Wheeler by Catherine Ryan Hyde]()
So Long, Chester Wheeler by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsUnlikely road trip companions form an unexpected bond in an uplifting novel about the past—lost and found—by the New York Times and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author.Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work, and getting antsy when he’s roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn’t need the aggravation, just the money... -
![Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado]()
Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLiving by their wits in the steamy slums of Bahia, a gang of orphans and runaways, led by fifteen-year-old "Bullet," spend their time stealing from Brazil's rich and privileged until public outcry demands their capture...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction journey literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
![Road to Love by Nicole Falls]()
Road to Love by Nicole Falls
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEmerson Parker is a walking ball of stress. Still reeling from the untimely demise of a relationship that she thought would last forever, work strain, & longstanding family drama, she is in dire need of respite. A freak occurrence coupled with a little bit of desperation to get away from it all leads her on an adventure—a cross-country road trip back to her hometown of Ragston, MI... -
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![16 on the Block by Babygirl Daniels]()
16 on the Block by Babygirl Daniels
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA girl's sixteenth birthday is supposed to be sweet, but for Summer Flynt, it was the day that her life changed forever. Young, fly, and beautiful, Summer is under the wing of her older sister, Trish. But when Trish steals something that doesn't belong to her and gets involved in a lifestyle she can't handle, she pays with her life... -
![The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi, سعود السنعوسي]()
The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi, سعود السنعوسي
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsDaring and bold, The Bamboo Stalk takes an unflinching look at the universal struggles of identity, race, and class as they intersect between two disparate societies: Kuwait and the Philippines. Josephine comes to Kuwait from the Philippines to work as a maid, where she meets Rashid, a spoiled but kind-hearted only son...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction journey literary-fiction realistic 21st-century action-adventure adult -
![Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie]()
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsIfemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time... -
![Zikora by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie]()
Zikora by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe emotional storms weathered by a mother and daughter yield a profound new understanding in a moving short story by the bestselling, award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be FeministsWhen Zikora, a DC lawyer from Nigeria, tells her equally high-powered lover that she's pregnant, he abandons her...Categorized as:
black-mc family journey literary-fiction poc-mc realistic social-commentary 21st-century -
![The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata]()
The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsPublished in Indonesia in 2005, "The Rainbow Troops," Andrea Hirata's closely autobiographical debut novel, sold more than five million copies, shattering records. Now it promises to captivate audiences around the globe.Ikal is a student at the poorest village school on the Indonesian island of Belitong, where graduating from sixth grade is considered a remarkable achievement...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc action-adventure -
![The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman, Carlotta Brentan]()
The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman, Carlotta Brentan
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratings13 hours, 15 minutesA trio of second-born daughters set out to break the family curse that says they’ll never find love on a whirlwind journey through the lush Italian countryside by New York Times bestseller Lori Nelson Spielman, author of The Life List...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction journey lgbtq literary-fiction realistic action-adventure -
![Night Train at Deoli and Other Stories (India) by Ruskin Bond]()
Night Train at Deoli and Other Stories (India) by Ruskin Bond
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn enchanting collection of stories from the heartland of IndiaRuskin Bond’s simple characters, living amidst the lush forests of the Himalayan foothills, are remarkable for their quiet heroism, courage and grace, and age-old values of honesty and fidelity... -
![Chasing the Stars by Virginie Grimaldi]()
Chasing the Stars by Virginie Grimaldi
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis journey could change everything...Maybe if she hadn't lost her job, Anna would never have dreamed of being so impulsive. Or perhaps if Chloe wasn't always having her heart broken, or if Lily was happy at school. But when Anna realises that her family is falling apart, only a grand, spontaneous gesture will do... -
![Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar]()
Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsHoracio Oliveira is an Argentinian writer who lives in Paris with his mistress, La Maga, surrounded by a loose-knit circle of bohemian friends who call themselves "the Club...Categorized as:
classics drama journey literary-fiction poc-mc university 20th-century action-adventure -
![Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri]()
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 65 ratingsLibrarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found hereNavigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations... -
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![The Truce by Mario Benedetti]()
The Truce by Mario Benedetti
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratings'Perhaps that moment had been exceptional, but still, I felt alive. That pressure on my chest means being alive.' Forty-nine, with a kind face, no serious ailments (apart from varicose veins on his ankles), a good salary, and three moody children, widowed accountant Martín Santomé is about to retire. He assumes he'll take up gardening, or the guitar, or whatever retired people generally do... -
![The Havoc of Choice by Wanjiru Koinange]()
The Havoc of Choice by Wanjiru Koinange
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratings2007, KenyaLong held captive by her father’s shadow of corruption, Kavata has spent her life suffocated by political machinations. When her husband decides to run in the next election, these shadows threaten to consume her home. Unable to bear this darkness,Kavata plots to escape. As her family falls apart, so too does her country...Categorized as:
politics historical-fiction journey literary-fiction family fiction contemporary corruption -
![East of the West by Miroslav Penkov]()
East of the West by Miroslav Penkov
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA brilliant debut from a rising talent praised by Salman Rushdie, among others.A grandson tries to buy the corpse of Lenin on eBay for his Communist grandfather. A failed wunderkind steals a golden cross from an orthodox church. A boy meets his cousin (the love of his life) once every five years in the waters of the river that divides their village into East and West...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction 21st-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
![Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan]()
Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsFour gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan’s centennialIntroducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India “the writer has only to look out of the window to pick up a character and thereby a story...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure -
![The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi]()
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsRaised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, Vivek finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men... -
![Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri]()
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsFrom the internationally best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author, a superbly crafted new work of fiction: eight stories—longer and more emotionally complex than any she has yet written—that take us from Cambridge and Seattle to India and Thailand as they enter the lives of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers... -
![The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa]()
The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSet among a community of cadets in a Lima military school, it is notable for its experimental and complex employment of multiple perspectives. The novel was so accurate in its portraiture of the academy that the academy's authorities burned one thousand copies and condemned the book as a plan by Ecuador to denigrate Peru...Categorized as:
classics drama historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc university 20th-century action-adventure -
![My Friends by Hisham Matar]()
My Friends by Hisham Matar
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA young man leaves behind more than he realizes to follow his passions in this major, luminous novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return.The trick time plays is to lull us into the belief that everything lasts forever, and although nothing does, we continue, inside our dream...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction politics family journey africa northern-africa libya -
![A Taste of Peace (Malibu #1) by J.J. Sorel]()
A Taste of Peace (Malibu #1) by J.J. Sorel
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen reformed bad boy Lachlan Peace starts running his dying father’s billion-dollar empire, he inherits shady investment schemes that threaten to tarnish his reputation and destroy the Peace empire. Lachlan Peace’s true passion in life is music and surfing. He also can’t take his eyes off his new admin assistant, Miranda Flowers... -
![The Walk (A Stroll to the Poll): A Picture Book by Winsome Bingham]()
The Walk (A Stroll to the Poll): A Picture Book by Winsome Bingham
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom award-winning creators Winsome Bingham and E.B. Lewis, The Walk (A Stroll to the Poll) is a powerful, full-color picture book story celebrating a journey crucial to our the walk to vote—a perfect read aloud.My granny is taking me on THE WALK.“Because leaders are not born,” she says. “They’re made through molding and modeling.”“What’s the walk?” I ask.“You’ll see...Categorized as:
social-commentary politics family realistic poc-mc historical-fiction black-mc children-books -
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![The Disoriented by Amin Maalouf]()
The Disoriented by Amin Maalouf
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAfter 25 years in exile, Adam travels from France to his homeland in the Middle East to bid farewell to his dying childhood friend.One night, a phone rings in Paris. Adam learns that Mourad, once his closest friend, is dying. He quickly throws some clothes in a suitcase and takes the first flight out, to the homeland he fled twenty-five years ago...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction journey literary-fiction politics action-adventure adult book -
![The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda]()
The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe first of his family to go to college, Anil Patel, the golden son, carries the weight of tradition and his family’s expectations when he leaves his tiny Indian village to begin a medical residency in Dallas, Texas, at one of the busiest and most competitive hospitals in America...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc action-adventure adult -
![10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak]()
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsLonglisted for the 2019 Booker Prize A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer and speaker Elif Shafak. In the pulsating moments after she has been murdered and left in a dumpster outside Istanbul, Tequila Leila enters a state of heightened awareness... -
![Dixon, Descending by Karen Outen]()
Dixon, Descending by Karen Outen
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA powerful, heartrending debut novel about ambition, survival, and our responsibilities to one anotherDixon was once an Olympic-level runner, but he missed the team by two-tenths of a second. Ever since that disappointment decades ago, he hasn’t allowed a goal to consume him...Categorized as:
literary-fiction family black-mc poc-mc fiction contemporary audiobook action-adventure -
![An Unlasting Home: A Novel by Mai Al-Nakib]()
An Unlasting Home: A Novel by Mai Al-Nakib
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"So fresh and unsettling that it will enchant you from the first page and linger for days after reading...Its epic family saga style echoes that of Hala Alyan’s Salt Houses and The Arsonists’ City , Ayad Akhtar’s Homeland Elegies , and Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction family poc-mc journey fiction contemporary audiobook -
![Cent millions d'années et un jour by Jean-Baptiste Andrea]()
Cent millions d'années et un jour by Jean-Baptiste Andrea
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings‘On the mountain, the only monsters are the ones you take with you.’Summer 1954. Stan has been hunting for fossils since the age of six. Now, having made a career out of studying the remains of tiny lifeforms, he hears a story he cannot forget: the skeleton of a huge creature, a veritable dragon, lies deep in an Alpine glacier. And he is determined to find it...Categorized as:
historical-fiction drama literary-fiction fiction action-adventure contemporary fantasy book -
![And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu]()
And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe inaugural title from Roxane Gay Books, And Then He Sang a Lullaby is a searingly honest and resonant debut from a 23-year-old Nigerian writer and queer liberation activist, exploring what love and freedom cost in a society steeped in homophobia.August is a God-fearing track star who leaves Enugu City to attend university and escape his overbearing sisters... -
![Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi]()
Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratings6 hrs. 10 min.Nigerian author Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi makes her American debut with this dazzling novel which explores her homeland's past, present, and possible future through the interconnected stories of four fearless globe-trotting women...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc family journey fiction contemporary audiobook -
![I Will Die in a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart]()
I Will Die in a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn 1913, a Russian ballet incited a riot in Paris at the new Théâtre de Champs-Elysées. “Only a Russian could do that," says Aleksandr Ivanovich. “Only a Russian could make the whole world go mad... -
![How Not to Disappear by Clare Furniss]()
How Not to Disappear by Clare Furniss
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOur memories are what make us who we are. Some are real. Some are made up. But they are the stories that tell us who we are. Without them we are nobody.Hattie's summer isn't going as planned. Her two best friends have abandoned her: Reuben has run off to Europe to 'find himself" and Kat is in Edinburgh with her new girlfriend... -
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![Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud]()
Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAn electrifying novel of an unconventional family in Trinidad mended by their individual, and collective, quests for loveAfter Betty Ramdin's husband dies, she invites a colleague, Mr. Chetan, to move in with her and her son, Solo. Over time, the three become a family, loving each other deeply and depending upon one another. Then, one fateful night, Solo overhears Betty confiding in Mr... -
![The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie]()
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsIn this darkly comic short story collection, Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, brilliantly weaves memory, fantasy, and stark realism to paint a complex, grimly ironic portrait of life in and around the Spoke Indian Reservation...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc realistic social-commentary university -
![Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver]()
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsProdigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives inhabiting the forested mountains and struggling small farms of southern Appalachia.From her outpost in an isolated mountain cabin, Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region... -
![Yugoslavia, My Fatherland by Goran Vojnović]()
Yugoslavia, My Fatherland by Goran Vojnović
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Vladan Borojević googles the name of his father Nedelko, a former officer in the Yugoslav People’s Army, supposedly killed in the civil war after the decay of Yugoslavia, he unexpectedly discovers a dark family secret...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction drama journey family realistic fiction contemporary -
![The Bone People by Keri Hulme]()
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIntegrating both Maori myth and New Zealand reality, The Bone People became the most successful novel in New Zealand publishing history when it appeared in 1984. Set on the South Island beaches of New Zealand, a harsh environment, the novel chronicles the complicated relationships between three emotional outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage... -
![A Heart So White by Javier Marías]()
A Heart So White by Javier Marías
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn alternate cover of this ISBN can be found here.Javier Marías's A Heart So White chronicles with unnerving insistence the relentless power of the past. Juan knows little of the interior life of his father Ranz; but when Juan marries, he begins to consider the past anew, and begins to ponder what he doesn't really want to know...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction university 20th-century -
![In the Country by Mia Alvar]()
In the Country by Mia Alvar
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThese nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles, emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines to begin new lives in the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere—and, sometimes, turning back again...Categorized as:
drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction poc-mc 21st-century action-adventure -
![Red Crosses by Sasha Filipenko]()
Red Crosses by Sasha Filipenko
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSasha Filipenko traces the arc of Russian history from Stalin's terror to the present day, in a novel full of heart and humanity.One struggles not to forget, while the other would like nothing better. Tatiana Alexeyevna is an old woman, over ninety, rich in lived experience, and suffering from Alzheimer's. Every day, she loses a few more of her irreplaceable memories...Categorized as:
historical-fiction politics literary-fiction journey family fiction contemporary audiobook -
![Sadness Is a White Bird by Moriel Rothman-Zecher]()
Sadness Is a White Bird by Moriel Rothman-Zecher
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this lyrical and searing debut novel written by a rising literary star and MacDowell Fellow, a young man is preparing to serve in the Israeli army while also trying to reconcile his close relationship to two Palestinian siblings with his deeply ingrained loyalties to family and country...Categorized as:
classics family historical-fiction journey lgbtq literary-fiction politics realistic -
![The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri]()
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThis quietly beautiful family portrait deftly expands on Lahiri's signature themes of love, solitude, and cultural disorientation (Harper's Bazaar), the very themes that made her collection of stories an international bestseller... -
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![All the Walls of Belfast by Sarah Carlson]()
All the Walls of Belfast by Sarah Carlson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFiona and Danny were born in the same hospital. Fiona’s mom fled with her to the United States when she was two, but, fourteen years after the Troubles ended, a forty-foot-tall peace wall still separates her dad’s Catholic neighborhood from Danny’s Protestant neighborhood... -
![The Fortunes of Wangrin by Amadou Hampâté Bâ]()
The Fortunes of Wangrin by Amadou Hampâté Bâ
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Fortunes of WangrinAmadou Hampâté BâTranslated by Aina Pavolini Taylor with an Introduction by F. Abiola IreleWinner of the Grand Prix Litteraire de l'Afrique Noire"I think this is perhaps the best African novel on colonialism and it draws very richly on various modes of oral literature...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey black-mc classics poc-mc fiction 20th-century contemporary -
![Leaves of the Banyan Tree by Albert Wendt]()
Leaves of the Banyan Tree by Albert Wendt
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn epic spanning three generations, Leaves of the Banyan Tree tells the story of a family and community in Western Samoa, exploring on a grand scale such universal themes as greed, corruption, colonialism, exploitation, and revenge. Winner of the 1980 New Zealand Wattie Book of the Year Award, it is considered a classic work of Pacific literature...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction journey classics family politics fiction 20th-century -
![Infinite Country by Patricia Engel, Inés del Castillo]()
Infinite Country by Patricia Engel, Inés del Castillo
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFor readers of Valeria Luiselli and Edwidge Danticat, an urgent and lyrical novel about a Colombian family fractured by deportation, offering an intimate perspective on an experience that so many have endured—and are enduring right now. At the dawn of the new millennium, Colombia is a country devastated by half a century of violence... -
![Moon Palace by Paul Auster]()
Moon Palace by Paul Auster
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsMarco Stanley Fogg is an orphan, a child of the sixties, a quester tirelessly seeking the key to his past, the answers to the ultimate riddle of his fate. As Marco sets out on a journey from the canyons of Manhattan to the deserts of Utah, he encounters a gallery of characters and a series of events as rich and surprising as any in modern fiction...Categorized as:
classics drama family historical-fiction journey literary-fiction university 20th-century -
![Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig]()
Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSometimes they talk all night long. In the still darkness of their cell, Molina re-weaves the glittering and fragile stories of the film he loves, and the cynical Valentin listens. Valentin believes in the just cause which makes all suffering bearable; Molina believes in the magic of love which makes all else endurable...
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