Gilbert Gaeta, a forklift operator in a dairy, can barely make payments on the
house where he lives with his thirteen-year-old daughter, Ana. When a month of
overtime shifts comes his way, he begins to envision a new life, one in which he
can save enough money for an engagement ring and finally propose to his
girlfriend, Joyce. He works the night shift, exhausted but making good money,
and it's looking like his plan will work. Then Ana is chased home from the
Laundromat by bullies, and she begins pushing him to buy a washer and dryer.
Gilbert tries to stay firm, but when Ana's trouble follows her to school, the
pressure mounts to put her first, and delay his future with Joyce.
Joyce,
who at thirty-six has never lived on her own, can't move out of her father's
traditional Mexican house until she is married. Feeling her life with Gilbert
slipping away, she starts to despair. And then one day, standing before her
impressive collection of vintage purses, she sees a way to take control of her
future. But it won't be easy.
Writing from three distinct and equally moving
perspectives, award-winning author Michael Jaime-Becerra tells a story about the
painful balance between love and responsibility. An intimate and poignant first
novel, "This Time Tomorrow" casts a new light on Southern California's working
class and its struggles for happiness.