A powerful novel about the construction of the Panama Canal casting light on the unsung people who lived loved and labored there It is said that the canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. But first it must be built. For Francisco a local fisherman who resents the foreign powers clamoring for a slice of his country nothing is more upsetting than the decision of his son Omar to work as a digger in the excavation zone. But for Omar whose upbringing was quiet and lonely this job offers a chance to finally find connection. Ada Bunting is a bold sixteen-year-old from Barbados who arrives in Panama as a stowaway alongside thousands of other West Indians seeking work. Alone and with no resources she is determined to find a job that will earn enough money for her ailing sisters surgery. When she sees a young man--Omar--who has collapsed after a grueling shift she is the only one who rushes to his aid. John Oswald has dedicated his life to scientific research and has journeyed to Panama in single-minded pursuit of one goal: eliminating malaria. But now his wife Marian has fallen ill herself and when he witnesses Adas bravery and compassion he hires her on the spot as a caregiver. This fateful decision sets in motion a sweeping tale of ambition loyalty and sacrifice. Searing and empathetic The Great Divide explores the intersecting lives of activists fishmongers laborers journalists neighbors doctors and soothsayers--those rarely acknowledged by history even as they carved out its course.
