Flip Flops in Winter, is a historical fiction novel filled with hope and triumph.It is based on the true story of the author's grandmother and what could have been had she continued playing the piano. It is character driven and speaks to the liberation of the artist confronting the socio-cultural challenges of New York City in the 1930's that continue on today.
Historical figures such as Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Howard Zinn, Jack Ezra Keats, Sylvia Fine, Noro Gonzalez, and Tito Puente are interspersed throughout the book in unique ways. By exploring the complex intersection of race, class, religion, and ethnicity during the Great Depression through the eyes of Raquel Rios's grandmother, it is the author's hope to honor her legacy.
Maria is an eighteen-year-old Puerto Rican pianist raised by nuns and sent to New York City in 1935 to work as a nanny for a wealthy Jewish family in exchange for piano lessons. Shortly after arriving to the Cohen's three story home in Brooklyn, Maria learns that they refuse to allow her to play the piano.
Disheartened and alone, Maria is pushed to branch out in New York to find the support she needs to pursue her dream. She befriends a Puerto Rican couple in Brooklyn and Walker, a talent scout in East Harlem at a historical time--the last days of the Harlem Renaissance and in the midst of the race riot of 1935. she meets Ruben Bernstein, a handsome Jewish pharmacist who offers Maria love and money without considering the impact it will have on this tight-knit Jewish Community.
Meanwhile, Ruth and Sarah Cohen, the girls she cares for, discover that Maria is a musical prodigy and her glowing fingers act as a magical conduit for their own piano playing. The eldest is suspicious of Maria's magical talent but Sarah begs Maria to give her piano lessons in secret. By taking this risk. Maria discovers her passion for teaching.
When Rebecca Cohen, her employer finds out that she's been teaching her daughter without permission, Maria and Sarah are pushed to take a stand. But now it's too late. Maria's strength and faith in God have prepared her to go out on her own. In partnership with a Jewish investor and an African American talent scout, Maria opens the first bilingual piano school in Harlem.