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Books About the Immigrant Experience in America
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.Immigrant stories are an essential part of the American story, reflecting the hopes and dreams, as well as the challenges and triumphs, of those building new lives in the United States.
Our novel and memoir recommendations cover the immigrant experience across generations, cultures, and time periods, from historical journeys through Ellis Island to contemporary stories of identity and belonging. In selecting the fiction titles for this list, we focused primarily on authors who share a cultural connection with the characters they write about.
Contemporary Stories of Immigrants in America
Good People
Book Summary
In the manicured suburbs of Northern Virginia, the Sharafs look like a model success story. Afghan refugees who fled war and rebuilt from nothing, they’ve earned the house, the reputation, and the quiet respect of neighbors and community alike. They are the very picture of the American dream. But a family this admired is also a family closely watched, and the people around them, both in the Afghan community and beyond it, each hold their own version of who the Sharafs really are.
Then the eldest daughter, Zorah, is dead, and a private tragedy becomes public property. Through a mosaic of voices including neighbors, acquaintances, eyewitnesses, newspaper articles, and police reports, the story of what happened is pieced together from the outside in, with the family’s own perspective conspicuously absent. As gossip hardens into narrative and assumption into judgment, the same set of facts bends toward wildly different conclusions, forcing the question of how well anyone can ever truly know the people next door.
What to Expect in This Book
This story is told in a true crime format, with all the POVs coming from outside the Sharaf household. The audiobook uses full-cast narration to fully immerse you in the different points of view.
From the subject matter to the unique ways the story unfolds, you’ll want to find someone with whom you can discuss this debut.
The story does include some violence, so be sure to check trigger warnings if needed.
The Book of Unknown Americans
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
After suffering a head injury in her home country of Mexico, Maribel’s family must move to Delaware so she can attend a special school, which will give her the best chance of recovery. The neighbors within their new apartment building are from other Central & South American countries, creating a bond as they try to adapt to their new home.
It’s a great look at the challenges of the immigrant experience and the lengths parents will go to for their children. You’ll also see an unlikely love story between Maribel and one of the boys from the apartment complex.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Melissa read this one back in 2015 and rated it 5 stars. Some reviewers don’t love that the coming-of-age story writing skewed a bit more toward YA versus literary fiction, but Melissa didn’t mind.
Behold the Dreamers
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
92% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
When Jende and his wife, Neni, immigrate to the US from Cameroon, they expect to work hard but be rewarded for that work with a better life than they left behind. In 2007, he began working as a chauffeur for Clark, a Lehman Brothers executive who appears to have achieved the American Dream.
Jende is an exceptional employee, and his dedication leads to his wife’s job working for Clark’s family at their Hamptons house. With two incomes, the family can finally begin to see the possibility of their brave move to America paying off.
However, all is not as it seems with their employers. As they learn more secrets, the world is about to learn some secrets as well. Lehman Brothers is collapsing, and Jende’s job is no longer certain. He needs this job to get his permanent green card, so their entire future is at risk.
More About This Book
While this book feels very real, it is a work of fiction. The author was born and raised in Cameroon before receiving her undergraduate and graduate degrees in the US. She drew upon her observations of class divides in NYC, especially during the Great Recession, as the basis for Behold the Dreamers.
Behind You Is the Sea
Book Summary
This interconnected group of short stories takes you to the Palestinian American community in Baltimore and into the homes of three families – the Baladis, the Salamehs, and the Ammars. The wealthy Ammar family employs young Maysoon Baladi, whose family struggles financially. Marcus Salameh’s aunt has married into the Ammar family. Marcus is forced to confront his father to protect his younger sister when she “dishonors” the family.
Each of these stories is told from a different point of view and provides a slice-of-life look at what it’s like to be from an immigrant family in contemporary Baltimore. Many readers say they enjoy the stories more as the collection progresses.
A Great Country
Book Summary
The Shahs came to America from India twenty years ago with good educations, a shared dream, and little else. Now, they’re moving into a perfect gated community in Pacific Hills, California, with their three American-born children. This move represents all the work and sacrifices they made along the way.
However, one Saturday night, their twelve-year-old son is arrested. Each family member is forced to redefine who they are and what success really means. The book explores themes of policing, immigration, generational conflict, social class, and privilege in a page-turning tale.
Read If You Liked…
This is a quick read at 256 suspenseful pages. It’s a great pick for clubs who enjoyed Such a Fun Age and The Vanishing Half.
Daughter of Exile
Book Summary
Lola is from Ghana, where her mom is still a judge. At just 21, she has already graduated from university and built a comfortable life with a good job, her own apartment, and a lively social circle. She also falls in love with Armand, an American soldier stationed at the U.S. Embassy.
When that relationship brings Lola to the United States, everything changes. Suddenly navigating 1990s America as an undocumented immigrant, she faces financial hardship, cultural differences, loneliness, and an uncertain future.
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
Cara assumed she’d have her factory job forever, but in the midst of the 2008 Great Recession, she was laid off. Now in her mid-50s, Cara finds herself back in the job market for the first time in decades. When she’s set up with a job counselor, she ends up sharing her life story instead of her career ambitions.
Cara’s story is told in over twelve sessions, from love affairs and financial strain to her difficult relationship with her son. Full of heart and humor, you’ll fall in love with this character amid her tales of life’s ups and downs.
Thoughts on This Novel
This literary, character-driven 2022 release from the author of Dominicana gives a glimpse into the life of a Dominican immigrant and legal resident of the United States. The book was a Goodreads nominee for Best Fiction and a New York Times Editors’ Choice book.
While much of Cara’s story is told in first person, you’ll also see the paperwork that is filed as part of the counseling process. Reviewers mention that the audiobook narration is exceptional and that the short 195-page length makes this a great choice when you’re short on time.
Historical Fiction About Immigrants Coming to America
Book Summary
In 19th-century China, young Sixiang grows up hearing stories about her father, who left for America years earlier in search of a better future. When her own life takes an unexpected turn, she begins a difficult journey across the Pacific and eventually finds herself in the American West.
As Sixiang and her father each try to build a life in a new country, they face hard work, prejudice, separation, and uncertainty. At its heart, Straw Dogs of the Universe is a moving story about family, resilience, and the hopes that inspire people to leave everything familiar behind and begin again.
The Next Ship Home
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Francesca arrived in America from Italy with dreams of a better life than the one she left behind. She arrived at Ellis Island on Alma’s first workday at the immigrant processing center.
However, both soon discover that Ellis Island is not the refuge it appears to be. President Roosevelt implemented new measures to deter crime, which led to new forms of crime and corruption.
Based on historical events, this novel explores the prejudice and exclusion that happened within Ellis Island. But, it’s also a story of friendship and the resilience needed to secure a better future.
Consider This Before Reading
Don’t miss the author’s notes at the end as Heather Webb shares details about her research and which characters are based on real people. At some points, the book’s pacing is slower in this character-driven story.
One reviewer found the audio version distracting as the narrator’s Italian accent wasn’t consistent, so this one may be better in print or Kindle.
Book Summary
Set in an early 20th-century Pennsylvania coal town, this novel follows Yelena, the American-born daughter of Russian Old Believer immigrants. Growing up between two worlds, she is surrounded by the traditions, hardships, and expectations her family carried with them from Russia while also dreaming of a different kind of American life.
As Yelena comes of age, she begins to question what she owes her family, what she wants for herself, and how much of the old world she can leave behind.
Thoughts on This Book
This is a story about identity, belonging, family loyalty, and the complicated promise of the American Dream.
The Saturday Evening Girls Club
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
The Saturday Evening Girls Club is a pottery-making group in Boston’s North End. It provides four young immigrant women a respite from the struggles in their daily lives.
Sicilian Caprice wants to open a hat shop, but her parents have different plans for her future. Ada wants to take college classes, but her Russian-Jewish father disapproves. Maria is stunning and has plenty of prospects for a husband, but she fears ending up miserable like her Italian Catholic mother. Thea is shy and torn between speaking up for herself or falling in line with an antiquated Jewish tradition.
Despite their cultural differences, the friends draw strength from each other as they fight to transform their immigrant stories into fulfilled American dreams.
The Orphan Collector
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
As the US celebrated the end of WWI in 1918, the Spanish flu brought a new threat to American cities. In Philadelphia, 13-year-old Pia, a German immigrant, is forced to venture out into the quarantined city in search of food for her and her younger brothers.
Amid anti-immigrant sentiment in her city and the grief of losing her baby to the Spanish flu, Bernice Groves formulates a plot to transform the city’s orphans and immigrant children into “true Americans.”
After collapsing on the street, Pia wakes up days later in a hospital, desperate to return to her brothers, but instead, she is taken to an orphan asylum.
What to Expect in This Read
Some readers find this book a bit slow to start and difficult to read because of the parallels to the recent global pandemic, but most find themselves drawn into the story and invested in the characters
Four Treasures of the Sky
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Daiyu was named after a tragic heroine in Chinese folklore and hoped to avoid being cursed like her namesake. However, she’s kidnapped in China at the young age of 11 to be sent to an American brothel.
While she’s able to escape the brothel, she can’t hide from the white men who are following the Chinese population as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 fuels anti-Asian sentiment. She’s lucky to find a safe home with Chinese shopkeepers in Idaho, but life is anything but easy in a country that hates you.
Inspiration For This Novel
The author wrote this beautiful work of literary historical fiction after her father found a historical marker in Idaho and asked her to share the story with the world. Be sure to read the author’s notes at the end of the book for more information on the true events that inspired the story.
This is an emotionally challenging read that addresses some difficult topics and includes depictions of sexual assault and racially motivated violence.
The Nature of Fragile Things
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In the early 1900s, Irish immigrant Sophie was desperate to leave her New York tenement. She answered a mail-order bride ad and agreed to marry a man named Martin Hocking in San Francisco. Martin is an aloof but handsome widower with a silent five-year-old daughter.
One evening, a young pregnant woman arrives at their doorstep. Sophie also learns of another woman, hundreds of miles away in Arizona, grieving the loss of everything she once loved. The fates of these three women become intertwined on the eve of the devastating San Francisco earthquake.
Paper Wife
Book Summary
In 1923, Mei Ling’s parents arranged for her sister to marry a widower in California. But when she falls ill, Mei is sent in her place from their home in Southern China. She must pretend to be her sister in order to enter the US. On the trip, she takes a young orphan girl named Siew under her wing.
When they arrive in San Francisco, she learns that her new husband is not a successful merchant like she was told. Instead, he’s a houseboy with a 2-year-old son, Bo. She’s now penniless, which makes it even harder to help Siew, who she learns will be forced into prostitution. Can she summon the strength to help Siew and turn their misfortune into a real family?
More About This Book
This novel is based on the stories of Chinese immigrants to the US in the early 1920s amid the Chinese Civil War and anti-immigration laws in the US.
Uprising
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Uprising tells the story of three women. Bella arrived in New York from Italy and was one of the hundreds of immigrants hired to work at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The hours are long, and the conditions are grueling. Her coworker, Yetta, is crusading for a union and convinces the workers to strike. Jane is a young, wealthy socialite who learns the plight of the factory workers and becomes invested in their cause.
On March 25, 1911, Bella and Yetta were both at work, and Jane was visiting the factory when a spark ignited some cloth. The building was quickly engulfed in flames. This historical fiction novel draws on extensive research to bring the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire to life.
The Boston Girl
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Addie Baum was born to a Jewish family at the turn of the 20th century. Her immigrant parents were very concerned about America’s effect on their three daughters. Growing up in Boston’s North End, Addie is introduced to a progressive world of short skirts, movies, and celebrity culture. She also sees a new world of opportunities for young women and dreams of college and a career.
At 85 years old, Addie Baum’s 22-year-old granddaughter asks her how she became the woman she is. Her story begins in 1915 when teenage Addie lived in a one-room tenement apartment that she shared with her family.
Thoughts on This Book
The story of Addie’s life is told with compassion, a wicked sense of humor, and great attention to historical detail. It’s a great pick if you enjoy hearing the life stories of someone who grew up in a different time or place than you.
Over 100 of our readers selected this book as their Massachusetts book for our Read Around the USA Challenge last year, and it received rave reviews. Numerous readers specifically mentioned how much they enjoyed the audio version of the book and said that the narration and the accents added to the story.
Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win
Book Summary
Jasmine is tired of her California high school and ready to start her real life studying journalism at NYU. Except, she had a tiny lapse in judgment and called herself the student body president on her NYU application before the election. She was a shoo-in, with her only competition, Gerald, campaigning to reinstate a dress code.
But then the real world infiltrates school politics. The Iran Hostage Crisis becomes the top story every night, and Gerald embraces the anti-Iranian hysteria spreading across the country. As an Iranian-American, Jasmine is caught in the middle. To make matters worse, her brother is becoming more outspoken as she tries to downplay her heritage.
What to Expect in This Book
This YA novel explores themes of identity and ancestry without being too heavy. Some readers say that Jasmine is a realistically flawed young character like Devi from the TV show Never Have I Ever. Don’t expect her to make all the same choices you would.
Ragtime
Book Summary
Set in the early 1900s, Ragtime begins in New Rochelle, New York, at the home of an affluent American family, but its story quickly expands to capture a much broader portrait of a changing nation.
Real historical figures—including Harry Houdini, Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J. P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, and Sigmund Freud—move through the novel alongside fictional characters from very different backgrounds.
Among them are Jewish immigrants arriving from Eastern Europe and struggling to survive in crowded, impoverished New York neighborhoods. Tateh, an immigrant peddler and devoted father, works to build a more secure future for his daughter while confronting poverty, exploitation, and the harsh realities behind the promise of the American Dream.
Their experiences intersect with those of a Black ragtime musician from Harlem and an affluent white family, creating a sweeping look at immigration, class, race, opportunity, and social change in early 20th-century America.
Also a Tony Award-Winning Musical
This book has been on Angela’s want-to-read list ever since her husband performed in a production of the musical adaptation of Ragtime several years ago because she was blown away by the story!
Non-Fiction and Memoirs About the Immigrant Experience in America
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
The Newcomers follows twenty-two immigrant teenagers throughout the 2015-2016 school year as they land at South High School in Denver, Colorado. Ranging in age from fourteen to nineteen, most of these students came directly from refugee camps in countries plagued by war, famine, or drought.
The non-fiction read follows the students’ English language education with their dedicated and creative teacher, Mr. Williams. As they grasp the language, their individual histories unfold, adding faces, names, and stories to those of those seeking asylum. At the same time that these teenagers are trying to adapt to an unfamiliar way of life in a new country, they are also balancing the more typical teenage challenge of fitting in and making friends.
What to Expect in This Book
The author not only gets to know the students, but also the families of those who are comfortable sharing their stories with her. This provides insights into the challenge of starting over for the parents whose education and career achievements in their home countries often mean little in the US because of the language barrier, forcing them to start over in more ways than one.
This is the high school that Angela’s son attends, and she has seen the positive impacts of the Newcomer program throughout the community.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
92% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In 1994, at age 7, author Qian Wang moved with her family from China to America. Before the move, her parents were successful professors. Despite the Chinese word for America, Mei Guo, meaning beautiful country, life is much harder for the family here. Her parents overstay their visas and are not in the US legally, which means they must find work in sweatshops instead of classrooms.
Qian escapes to libraries to avoid the teachers and classmates who shun her limited English. Over time, she’s able to master English through her study of books like The Berenstain Bears and The Babysitters Club and begins to glimpse some of the magic of New York City, like Christmas at Rockefeller Center. However, her world changes again when her mom gets sick.
This memoir gives a unique insight into the hidden life and struggles of children trying to thrive in a place where they must also remain hidden in many ways.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Both Book Girls were teenagers in the 1990s, so Angela found it especially powerful to read about Qian Julie’s experiences growing up in that decade. Her sweatshop experiences, for example, were things we grew up thinking only happened in other countries when, in fact, they were part of Qian Julie’s reality in the United States. While Angela really enjoyed this memoir, some readers found it difficult to read about Qian Julie’s traumas, including her father’s abusive treatment of her cat.
Qian Julie went on to graduate from Swarthmore College and Yale Law School, and became a partner in a law firm with her practice focusing on civil rights litigation.
Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother’s Life
Book Summary
Written in the voice of her own mother, Tswb Muas, Kao Kalia Yang’s memoir begins in the Hmong village of Dej Tshuam in the highlands of Laos, where Tswb’s childhood was upended by America’s Secret War.
As the U.S. withdrew and the Pathet Lao government launched genocidal attacks on the Hmong people, Tswb’s family fled into the jungle, where a teenage Tswb met the man she would marry. At only 16 years old, she made the devastating choice to leave her own mother behind to follow him to a refugee camp in Thailand.
From Thailand, Tswb and her husband eventually resettled in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where they enrolled in high school as adults, worked grueling jobs, and raised seven children while fighting to preserve their Hmong identity.
Historical Context
In the late 1960s and 1970s, there was a fairly large Hmong community in the state of Minnesota due to churches and agencies sponsoring families who were displaced and reviled for helping the Americans during the Vietnam War. There is still a significant presence in the state to this day. In 2020, gymnast Suni Lee, who was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, became the first woman of Hmong descent to win an Olympic gold medal.
Threading My Prayer Rug: One Woman’s Journey from Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim
Book Summary
This memoir begins with Sabeeha recounting her journey from Pakistan to New York in the 1970s. She provides a sweetly funny, moving account of the arranged marriage that brought her to the US, and undercuts stereotypes as she shares her stories of building a life far from home while navigating the challenges of immigration, marriage, and motherhood. She also talks about the challenges of reconciling Pakistani traditions with American life, confronting issues of raising her children as Muslims in a society where their religion is often misunderstood and while the kids lobbied for a Christmas tree!
Her memoir becomes especially poignant after September 11, when Muslim Americans face heightened suspicion and fear, forcing Rehman and her family to confront questions of belonging, prejudice, and what it means to be both Muslim and American.
What to Expect in This Memoir
This memoir is described as warm, candid, and often humorous. It offers a deeply personal look at family, faith, community, and the immigrant experience both before and after 9/11.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This coming-of-age memoir opens in 1975 with the fall of Saigon when five-year-old Phuc Tran’s family immigrated to a small town in Pennsylvania. Most of the book, however, covers Phuc’s older childhood/teen years throughout the 1980s.
Part immigrant story and part coming-of-age tale, this book is described as a misfit’s memoir of great books, punk rock, and the fight to fit in. It is all of that and much more.
Reads Like a Novel
This memoir reads like a literary fiction novel as the author uses classic novels to connect to his own experiences growing up as the only Vietnamese-American student in his small town in the 1980s. He finds solace and self-discovery in literature and the subculture of the punk rock scene.
The audiobook of this memoir is narrated by the author himself, allowing you to hear his experiences in his own words and voice.
My Side of the River
Book Summary
Elizabeth was born in the US to Mexican immigrants in Tuscon. However, when she was 15 and entering her freshman year of high school, her parents visas expired and they were forced to return to Mexico. Suddenly, Elizabeth was responsible for not only herself, but her younger brother as her family was seperated due to broken immigration laws.
With an extra dose of teenage grit, Elizabeth and her brother did everything possible to continue their parents pursuit of the promised American dream. The memoir chronicles their experiences through high school and beyond.
Book Summary
This memoir is a follow-up to The Distance Between Us, which covers Reyna’s childhood as her family immigrated to the United States. In A Dream Called Home, she covers the next chapter in her life as she experiences college as a first-generation Latina student.
Her parents aren’t helpful, and she has few resources, but her love of reading and writing provided the knowledge and skill she needed to attend UC Santa Cruz. However, she quickly learned that being accepted was only the first barrier. Often her progress was driven by the pure determination to become a writer.
Read along as she defies the odds by transitioning from undocumented immigrant to college graduate and bestselling author.
In Honor of the Semiquincentennial
The United States is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. Join us in reading books about six pivotal moments in the country’s history.
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