Hope and Heartbreak: 10 Books About Immigration and the Refugee Experience

New York Times bestselling author Isabel Allende takes readers on an epic journey from the 1970s to present day, traveling from Chile to Guatemala to Brooklyn. IN THE MIDST OF WINTER intertwines three individuals’ lives, each with their own harrowing tale. Readers are invited to immerse themselves in these stories, set in Brooklyn on a snowy night, as the characters share both their experiences and hopes for the future. 

Colm Toibin’s intimate and moving novel is about a young woman, Eilis Lacey, who grew up in a small Irish town after World War II. With no prospects in her native land, Eilis accepts a New York priest’s offer to sponsor her immigration to America. Eilis arrives in Brooklyn alone, but slowly it becomes her home. After falling in love, finding work, and immersing herself in American society, Eilis finds that she misses Ireland less and less. That is, in fact, until she is forced to decide where she truly belongs. 

ACROSS A HUNDRED MOUNTAINS tells the story of Juana Garcia, a young woman who is tragically separated from her mother. Unsure and afraid, Juana leaves her hometown in Mexico to search for her father, who left them two years earlier for work prospects in the United Statees. Along the way Juana meets Adelina Vasquez, a woman from California who has followed her lover to Mexico. Both girls are now alone, but in their time of desperation have found each other. A poignant story of loss, friendship, and hope, ACROSS A HUNDRED MOUNTAINS is a must-read for anyone looking for a strong perspective from a complex character. 

This beautiful and poetic novel narrates the lives of of two girls eight hundred years apart. Nour is a Syrian American girl whose mother relocates her family from New York City back to Syria after the loss of Nour’s father. In an effort to keep her father’s spirit alive, Nour tells herself their favorite story about the twelfth-century girl named Rawiya who disguised herself as a boy in order to serve as a mapmaker’s apprentice. When her family finally decides to leave Syria for good, Nour imagines herself as Rawiya, traveling the same route and charting the world. Complete with stunning writing, two truly incredible characters, and a transcendent story of love and home, MAP OF SALT AND STARS should be on your list of essential reading. 

Nazneen, a young Bangladeshi woman, is struggling with the idea of leaving her whole life behind for a new one in London, complete with a new husband. After she moves, an affair between Nazneen and a younger, politically radical man ensues, forces Nazneen to question everything she once knew. BRICK LANE is a multicontinental story that pays just as much attention to Nanzeen’s internal growth and struggle as it does to her rapidly changing external life. 

Journalist Helen Thorpe follows the lives of twenty-two teens in Denver, Colorado. The kids, aged fourteen to nineteen, have all migrated to the United States as a result of war; several students have even come directly from refugee camps. With her vigilant eye and smart storytelling, Thorpe tells nuanced stories about the students' rapidly changing lives, all while touching on the policies and global issues that have brought them to this situation.  

Mbue’s debut novel is a gripping tale of a Cameroonian family who comes to the United States just before the 2008 economic crash. Jende Jonga is thrilled when he gets a job as a chauffeur for a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. It’s enough for Jende, his wife Neni, and their six-year-old son to get a leg up as they begin their new life this country. But when the Great Recession strikes, everything changes, and Jende and Neni are faced with an impossible choice. Heart-wrenching and compelling, Behold the Dreamers unapologetically illustrates the pitfalls of the American Dream. 

A young Iranian girl arrives in America alone. The only family she knows is her father, whom she has left behind in her native land. Over the next twenty years, this girl evolves into a star student and eventually a successful adult living in Europe. During this time, however, she sees her father only four times. As the refugee crisis in Europe escalates, the now grown woman feels a sense of duty to help, but also grapples with her own identity and guilt about leaving her father behind so many years ago. A rich and fascinating character study, REFUGE pairs the deeply emotional with the urgent for a truly immersive read.  

This critically acclaimed novel by one of contemporary literature’s most important writers is a powerful and vivid look into what it means to exist in two worlds. The stories of these characters differ—one is a recent Vietnamese refugee, another is a girl in Ho Chi Minh City whose sister returns from America. Despite differing circumstances,  both characters  struggle to find their place and come to terms with the meaning of ‘home,’ all while dealing with the very basics of modern human life: success, relationships, and finding purpose. 

Four sisters. Two cultures. In acclaimed writer Julia Alvarez’s 2010 novel, she tells the story of a family who flees the Dominican Republic in 1960. After their father is discovered in his attempt to overthrow the dictator, the four Garcia sisters must begin a new life. The sisters, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofía, attempt to fit into their new culture, despite their neighbors’ resistance to them. Meanwhile, their parents hold on tightly to their old customs. For the girls, being caught between the old and new is painful but often exciting. This coming of age story is both moving and fascinating, while discussing the idea of being home but feeling not at home all at once.