Books About Immigrants: Recommendations for Adult Summer Reading 2025Like this list

20 items

• Owner of a Lonely Heart

  a Memoir

  Nguyen, Beth

  Add Owner of a Lonely Heart to your for later shelf

  Nguyen, who fled Saigon for America at the end of the Vietnam War while her mother stayed behind, tells a coming-of-age story spanning her Midwestern childhood, her first meeting with her mother, and becoming a parent herself.

• The Leavers

  Ko, Lisa,

  Add The Leavers to your for later shelf

  When his undocumented immigrant mother disappears, eleven-year-old Deming Guo is adopted by a family that attempts to make him over as an American teen while he struggles to reconcile his new life with memories of the family he left behind.

• America Is Not the Heart

  Castillo, Elaine,

  Add America Is Not the Heart to your for later shelf

  Hero arrives in the United States from the Philippines to stay with her uncle Pol, who has offered her a fresh start and a promise not to ask about her past during the violent political history of their home country.

• Of Women and Salt

  Garcia, Gabriela, 1984-

  Add Of Women and Salt to your for later shelf

  The daughter of a Cuban immigrant battles addiction and the fallout of her decision to take in the child of an ICE detainee, while her mother wrestles with displacement trauma and complicated family ties.

• Solito

  a Memoir

  Zamora, Javier,

  Add Solito to your for later shelf

  Zamora reflects on his 3,000-mile journey from El Salvador to the United States when he was nine years old, during which he was faced with perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests, and deceptions.

• The Liberators

  a Novel

  Koh, EJ, 1988-

  Add The Liberators to your for later shelf

  Spanning continents and four generations of two Korean families forever changed by fateful past decisions made in love and war, this elegantly wrought family saga of memory, trauma and empathy serves as a brilliant testament to the consequences and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Candelaria

  a Novel

  Lozada-Oliva, Melissa,

  Add Candelaria to your for later shelf

  After a cataclysmic earthquake hits Boston, a grandmother must follow her visions and travel across the crumbling city battling strange entities to the Watertown Mall's Old Country Buffet to save her three granddaughters and possibly the whole world.

• After the Last Border

  Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America

  Goudeau, Jessica,

  Add After the Last Border to your for later shelf

  Goudeau documents the intimate stories of two refugees in present-day Texas, describing how a Christian from Myanmar and a Muslim from Syria narrowly escaped their home countries only to be introduced to the worst and best of the American dream.

• Las Madres

  a Novel

  Santiago, Esmeralda,

  Add Las Madres to your for later shelf

  In 2017, Luz returns home to Puerto Rico with family and friends—the "madres" of the title—hoping to recover memories lost in a 1975 accident that took the lives of her accomplished scientist parents.

• That Can Be Arranged

  a Muslim Love Story

  Fahmy, Huda,

  Add That Can Be Arranged to your for later shelf

  Fahmy recounts her experiences as a Muslim-American woman seeking an arranged marriage, reflecting upon mismatched suitors, gossiping aunties, and societal expectations before meeting and marrying her husband.

• My Mother's House

  Momplaisir, Francesca, 1973-

  Add My Mother's House to your for later shelf

  Moving his family to an immigrant enclave in New York in the hope of starting over, an emotionally damaged Haitian man succumbs to dark impulses that have dangerous ripple effects for the others living in his home.

• The Ungrateful Refugee

  What Immigrants Never Tell You

  Nayeri, Dina,

  Add The Ungrateful Refugee to your for later shelf

  Nayeri examines what it means to be a refugee through her own story of childhood escape from Iran, and through the stories of other refugees and asylum seekers.

• Homeland Elegies

  a Novel

  Akhtar, Ayad

  Add Homeland Elegies to your for later shelf

  Akhtar blends social commentary and family drama—particularly, the story of a father and son—to examine issues of identity and belonging in disoriented post 9–11, Trump-primed America through the immigrant experience.

• Edge Case

  a Novel

  Chin, YZ,

  Add Edge Case to your for later shelf

  When her husband suddenly disappears, a young woman must uncover where he went—and who she might be without him—in this striking debut of immigration, identity, and marriage.

• Mott Street

  a Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming

  Chin, Ava,

  Add Mott Street to your for later shelf

  Chin, who grew up estranged from her father, seeks the truth about her family history and uncovers a legacy of exclusion and resilience that speaks to the American experience past and present.

• The English Problem

  a Novel

  Kamlani, Beena,

  Add The English Problem to your for later shelf

  Shiv Advani, an eighteen-year-old chosen by Mahatma Gandhi to study British law in 1930s London, arrives determined to fight colonialism but soon finds himself torn between his duty to India’s independence movement and his growing desire to belong…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Miracle Creek

  Kim, Angie, 1969-

  Add Miracle Creek to your for later shelf

  A dramatic murder trial in the aftermath of an experimental medical treatment and a fatal explosion upends a rural Virginia community where personal secrets and private ambitions complicate efforts to uncover what happened.

• Gravel Heart

  Gurnah, Abdulrazak, 1948-

  Add Gravel Heart to your for later shelf

  When his beloved Uncle Amir offers him an escape, lonely teenager Salim struggles to find a foothold in a hostile city in Zanzibar, and to understand the darkness at the heart of his family, must face devastating truths about those closest to him.

• The Distance Between Us

  a Memoir

  Grande, Reyna

  Add The Distance Between Us to your for later shelf

  Grande traces her experiences as an illegal child immigrant, describing how her parents' dreams of better opportunities for their family were marked by her father's violent alcoholism, her efforts to obtain a higher education, and the inspiration of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Adult Summer Reading 2025

  View on bpl.org

  Visit our webpage to learn more about the Adult Summer Reading Program, which runs from June 1 to August 31.