by Lee T. Bycel
First published 2021
Lee T. Bycel presents the personal accounts of eleven refugees who fled their homelands seeking safety in America. The voices range from a 93-year-old Polish grandmother who survived Auschwitz to a blind undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who earned a college degree despite being born into poverty. Meron Semedar from Eritrea captures the shared sentiment when she says hope sustains her life through difficult times. Each chapter focuses on someone from a different nation, including South Sudan, Guatemala, Syria, and Vietnam. Bycel provides context about the refugee crises that drove these individuals from their countries. Some adapted quickly to American life, while others faced ongoing challenges with language, cultural differences, and prejudice. The refugees speak openly about fleeing oppression, violence, and war, then navigating their new reality in the United States. Their testimonies reveal the human faces behind immigration policy debates. The book demonstrates how people rebuild their lives after losing everything, showing both their struggles with adjustment and their remarkable persistence in pursuing better futures.
Genres: non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, overcoming-adversity
Setting: America, Eritrea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Poland, South Sudan, Syria, Vietnam
Period: 21st-century
190 pages · Paperback · Rutgers University Press
Content warnings: violence, war