In 2018, Jeanine Cummins sold her novel “American Dirt” to Flatiron Books after an auction between multiple publishing houses. The book follows a Mexican woman forced to leave behind her life and escape to the U.S. with her son as undocumented immigrants. It received plenty of early praise and is a pick for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club. According to The Los Angeles Times, renowned authors Stephen King, John Grisham and Sandra Cisneros praised the novel.