When seventeen-year-old Lucy do Amaral comes home with bleached blonde hair she expects a major lecture and another grounding from her strict Portuguese parents. What she doesn't expect is the shocking news that her family are illegal aliens who’ve just been told they're being deported in less than a week. Lucy's furious at being forced to leave her boyfriend and miss prom to go live in some backwater village in a country she knows nothing about. But as Lucy discovers, intentions and reality are sometimes worlds apart - or an ocean away.

Nelsa Roberto's profile page

Nelsa Roberto is a Portuguese-Canadian who was born in a remote logging community in northern Ontario, grew up in a farming community in southern Ontario, and now lives in Toronto with her husband, three children, and a Golden Retriever.

". . . Roberto has captured perfectly the vocabulary, tone and emotions of the characters.  The story flies by with the reader eagerly turning pages." - CM Magazine"The flowing dialogues and strokes of humour made me fall in love with this novel." - What If? Magazine"Author Nelsa Roberto has taken a true story from the news headlines. . . and skillfully crafted an enjoyable and well written tale." - Canadian Children’s Book News - -

Illegally Blonde

It’s refreshing to see a Portuguese-Canadian protagonist in YA fiction and Lucy do Amaral is an appealing newcomer. Lucy has been the good daughter to her hardworking parents while they have forged a life in Canada. As the youngest child and a girl, she is not consulted about family matters, she has no expectations of continuing her education after high school and she (mostly) complies with her parents’ 7:00 PM curfew. Her big act of rebellion has been to dye her hair blonde for the upcoming Prom. Her parents, however, scarcely notice her hair — they and her older brother have been devastated by the news that they are being deported. Lucy is similarly devastated — she will miss the Prom and she will likely lose her boyfriend (whose attention has become less enthusiastic recently).

Very shortly, Lucy is living in her parents’ tiny village in Portugal, crowded in with her aunt and uncle’s family and struggling with her rusty Portuguese. Desperate to get home to Canada, she strikes a deal for an illegal passport with the town badboy Tomas, but also finds herself interested in the handsome Cambridge-educated Felipe, who has hired her to work in his English tutoring service and who is also her sullen cousin’s ex-boyfriend.

Impatient and self-absorbed, Lucy manages to mess up her new life in Portugal, but her loyalty to her family and her innate values keep her from taking a totally wrong turn. In the process, she discovers a bit more about her roots and a lot about her talents — discoveries that open up new possibilities for her, possibly in Canada, possibly in Portugal.

Author Nelsa Roberto has taken a true story from the news headlines (about Portuguese-Canadians deported when their citizenship was called into question) and skillfully crafted an enjoyable and well-written tale. Lucy do Amaral is a welcome addition to the YA scene.

Illegally Blonde

When 17-year-old Lucy comes home with bleached blonde hair, she expects to be grounded — not hear that her family are illegal aliens who are being deported back to Portugal in less than a week. But as Lucy learns that intentions and realities can be worlds apart, she realizes you can’t run from your roots.