title: The MONARCH'S FLIGHT
author: Villalba, Louis
description: A religious married man falls head over heels for another woman. His obligations toward God and his wife prevail. But an event shatters his beliefs and compels him to decide between both women.Amid the Mexican diaspora into the US, Salvador, a Mexican seminarian, abandons his studies to marry Rosa. In 1982, when the enamored couple expects their first child, their shop goes bankrupt. The loss urges him to migrate to the US. He promises to reunite his wife and their child with him as soon as possible. He dreams of a better future for his family and himself despite language difficulties, foreign culture, discrimination, and injustice--he knows--will most likely endure. But Salvador does not foresee his major obstacle: On his way to an L station in Chicago, he witnesses an assault on Elisa, a coworker. He rushes to her aid and suffers life-threatening knife wounds. He falls in love with her. But family duties and obedience to God prompt him to leave Elisa and, as planned, bring Rosa and their child to the US. Salvador fights an uphill battle to forget the other woman. An unexpected occurrence rocks his marriage and religious faith and forces him to choose between Rosa and Elisa.