Suddenly Ambar must leave her country, her school, and her friends. Her mother can’t explain the reasons or the whereabouts of her father. And as if that wasn’t enough, Ambar must also leave her beloved dog Caos and adopt a new identity.

Will she be able to make new friends?

Will she be able to find herself in a country where even the so called same language is full of hidden traps and confusion?

Who is family?

Is you dog a member of your family?

Can you ever be complete when you are missing key people in your life?

Is it a betrayal to the best friends you miss to make and fall in love with new ones?

How do we remain true to ourselves in a new place?

I believe this book project found me just at the right moment. I have lived in the UK for almost 25 years and this was my first book project in Latin America. I found Yolanda’s words deeply relatable, as a migrant I felt I could illustrate it and shape it from lived experience, the angst and necessity of assimilation, the joy in finding that space that is neither there nor here but some nebulous personal middle.

I used Colour deliberately to relate to place in this work. I used Green (always greener on the other side of nostalgia) to depict the original country, Earthy Yellows for the new country and Lilac for a new state of mind, self affirming new sense of self. But that of course is not the only way to read those colours, this is only how I used them.