Cuentos: From The South To The City

By Keiarra Ortiz-Cedeno

The American Dream demanded a journey. The city asked for a price.

In 1960s Texarkana, the King family is ruled by Mary Lee Payton, who runs a laundromat as a front for the brothel upstairs. Beth endures the worst of her mother's cruelty, her only escape a promise from Wilbur Parks, a scarred Korean War veteran.

Trading the segregated South for a fresh start, Beth and Wilbur join the great Exodus to California, raising their abundance of children in the promised land. Wilbur finds respect as a skilled mason and a devoted pastor, while Beth enforces a rigid discipline, determined to shield her family from harm.

Yet, the golden promises of the city are fragile. The King siblings struggle against invisible boundaries, and as they grow up, the lure of easy money and the power of the local gang, the Red Chilie Peppers, begin to pull them into darkness.

Cuentos: From the South to the City is a sweeping, heartbreaking saga that charts the pursuit of a better life and the devastating cost of generational trauma. The journey to California was just the beginning. Can the King family's faith and love survive the ultimate reckoning, or will their American Dream be lost in the shadows of the city's unforgiving streets?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FVSWNTDD
• ISBN13: 9798993511900
• Release Date: October 2025
• Publisher: Keiarra\Ortiz-Cedeno
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"