However, Nora harbors concerns about Jeremy’s underlying aggression, which simmers to the surface via his friendship with the volatile Bryan Fierro, his fellow veteran of the Iraq War. Nora and Jeremy begin to have a full-blown romance, to the delight of Jeremy. Nora begins working in her father’s diner, which he had been walking outside of at the time of the accident. Nora also learns that her father had begin carrying on a passionate affair with a local woman named Beatrice Newland, and in fact owed thousands of dollars towards an engagement ring at the time of his passing. She learns that her father had taken out a life insurance policy that will now reward her $250,000, which inspires the jealousy of Maryam and Nora’s older sister, Salma. Nora temporarily lives in a small cabin that her father Driss had rented.

Meanwhile, a local immigrant named Efraín Mendez, who witnessed the accident while bicycling home from work, refrains from going to the police out of fear that he will be deported as part of the process of being entangled in the legal system. As Detective Erica Coleman begins investigating the case involving Driss, Nora confidently believes that it was not an accident, despite a lack of evidence. While at home, Nora reconnects with Jeremy Gorecki, a quiet and introverted police officer who had a crush on her during their days together in the high school band. Maryam and Driss had immigrated to the Mojave Desert from their home in Morocco after their pleasant lives in their early marriage were disrupted by sudden political violence. Nora returns home to be with her family during the grieving process, which is complicated by the fact that Maryam, her mother, disapproves of her chosen profession, and is unafraid of voicing her opinions. Nora, an aspiring composer in her twenties who lives in Oakland, learns that her father, Driss, has been run over by a car and killed in an apparent accident, back in Nora’s hometown in the Mojave Desert of California.

The following edition of this book was used to create this study guide: Lalami, Laila.

The other americans book