The acclaimed author of Peel My Love Like an Onion tracks the perilous lives of Mexicans who illegally cross to the U.S. for work. THE GUARDIANS is the story of Regina, a fiercely independent widow living in a New Mexican border town. She is working as a school aide, raising her teenaged nephew Gabriel, who is in the U.S. illegally, and waiting anxiously for the return of her brother Rafa, who disappeared somewhere along the U.S./Mexico border. As days pass with no sign of Rafa, Regina and Gabriel resolve to find him and save him if he is still alive. Filled with vivid characters and her trademark warmth and humor, Ana Castillo's novel expertly and engagingly explores themes of immigration and border issues, family bonds, faith, cultural pride, and love after 50.