Cuban Alicia Maldonado, born to wealthy parents,  moves to Haiti as a child fleeing Batista’s regime. The young Alicia has trouble settling in this new land until she meets Richard Laveaux, the son of a wealthy Haitian family. Years later Alicia and Richard marry but their life together is stormy, often at the expense of the two children. Alicia finds herself a widow, alone in the world with only her children.  She relocates to Port Aux Prince where she soon marries George Duplan, but this to is a tumultuous relationship. Now with four children, and a husband that is unfaithful, her world once again falls apart. Depressed, despondent and unable to cope she disappears taking only the youngest child. We follow her first to the Bahamas and then to Miami, always haunted by the thought of those she left behind.

Readers travel the rocky road of depression with Alicia from place to place, always searching for the happiness that seems to allude her. Alicia Maldonado is indeed a “Mother Lost.”

Author Ardain Isma is a Haitian born writer living in Florida. He is an educator with several published articles on multiculturalism. This story reflects the difficulties experienced by persons of different cultures and backgrounds-some they are unable to overcome making life very difficult.

An interesting look at the world through the eyes of a displaced person who unconsciously, but selfishly leaves her children behind in her own search for happiness and peace. Readers will find a new insight as they look through the eyes of those who arrive in a new land facing  fear, prejudice and the unknown.