Category: Expat Stories and Experiences

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Africa, English, Expat Stories and Experiences

Travel Light, Move Fast

Author: Alexandra Fuller

Language: English

Summary: Six months before he died in Budapest, Tim Fuller turned to his daughter: “Let me tell you the secret to life right now, in case I suddenly give up the ghost.” Then he lit his pipe and stroked his dog Harry’s head. Harry put his paw on Dad’s lap and they sat there, the two of them, one man and his dog, keepers to the secret of life. “Well?” she said. “Nothing comes to mind, quite honestly, Bobo,” he said, with some surprise. “Now that I think about it, maybe there isn’t a secret to life. It’s just what it is, right under your nose. What do you think, Harry?” Harry gave Dad a look of utter agreement. He was a very superior dog. “Well, there you have it,” Dad said. Continue reading “Travel Light, Move Fast”

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Africa, English, Expat Stories and Experiences, North America

Always Another Country

Author: Sisonke Msimang

Language: English

Summary: “Brutally and uncompromisingly honest, Sisonke’s beautifully crafted storytelling enriches the already extraordinary pool of young African women writers of our time.” ―Graça Machel, widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela

Born in exile, in Zambia, to a guerrilla father and a working mother, Sisonke Msimang is constantly on the move. Her parents, talented and highly educated, travel from Zambia to Kenya and Canada and beyond with their young family. Always the outsider, and against a backdrop of racism and xenophobia, Sisonke develops her keenly perceptive view of the world. In this sparkling account of a young girl’s path to womanhood, Sisonke interweaves her personal story with her political awakening in America and Africa, her euphoria at returning to the new South Africa, and her disillusionment with the new elites. Confidential and reflective, Always Another Country is a search for belonging and identity: a warm and intimate story that will move many readers.

Sisonke Msimang is one of the most exciting contemporary female black voices in literature. Now based in Perth, Australia, she regularly contributes to publications like The Guardian, the Huffington Post, and the New York Times. She has over 20,000 followers on Twitter @Sisonkemsimang. Her TED Talk,“If a story moves you, act on it,” has been viewed over 1.3 million times. (Goodreads)

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English, Expat Stories and Experiences, North America

Followives

Author: Irene Perali

Language: English

Summary:  Have you ever left everything behind to follow a dream…which is not yours?
The novel Followives is all about this: five intertwined stories of wives following their husbands who moved from Italy to California to pursue unique career opportunities.

Viola, Bianca, Luna, Giada, and Aurora have just started to discover their career paths in vibrant Milan. These five women don’t have a lot in common until the men in their lives decide to chase their dream jobs in the United States.
Weighing their sentiments more than their aspirations—because there are million perfect jobs, but only one perfect husband—the women leave their lives behind to undertake the Californian adventure.
Unemployed and lonely in a new country, the followives confront endless challenges. Impostor Syndrome, hectic jobs or no jobs at all, sky-high rents and home sickness are just a few of the troubles through which these women’s stories intersect.
The heroines will question everything, including the authenticity of their love, which they have traded for their lives in Italy.

Followives explores different aspects of the immigration flow of mostly male engineers from Italy to California in the 2010s.
The often-unspoken voices of their wives provide a unique point of view that demystifies the contemporary California Gold Rush.

At first, it may seem only a romance novel, but Followives invites the reader to reflect on some critical themes of our society:
Love and career: are we willing to take a step back in our careers in favor of our partners’ careers? Do women do that more often than men?
Living far from your country: can the advantages of living in a foreign country alleviate the nostalgia for your homeland?

Whether you are from Italy, California or any other country, if you enjoy reading about complex relationships, deep psychological characterization and vivid descriptions, Followives is your next book.

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Asia, Expat Stories and Experiences, Italiano

Bianco come Dio

Author: Nicolò Govoni

Language: Italian

Summary: Se ti dicono che il mondo è sbagliato e non puoi fare nulla per aggiustarlo, hai due possibilità: ti rassegni a vivere una vita che non è la tua, con il dubbio di sprecare tempo prezioso, o ti rimbocchi le maniche e provi a migliorare le cose, un bambino alla volta. È quello che sceglie Nicolò, vent’anni carichi di domande, di energia e di un’inestinguibile ricerca di senso. Continue reading “Bianco come Dio”

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English, Expat Stories and Experiences, How-to Guides, Language

A Journey in Languages and Cultures – The Life of a Bicultural Bilingual

Author: François Grosjean

Language: English

Summary: This book explores the life and experiences of one of the world’s most renowned and well-respected experts in bilingualism. François Grosjean takes us through his life, from his monolingual childhood in a small village outside Paris to the long periods of time he spent in Switzerland, England, France, and the United States, becoming bilingual and bicultural in the process.

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Europe, Expat Stories and Experiences, Italiano

Il nido di vetro. Una piccola storia d’amore

Author: Giuliana Arena

Language: Italian

Summary: Nel 2011 il secondo figlio dell’autrice nasce con più di tre mesi di anticipo e un peso di 830 grammi. Alcuni anni dopo, Giuliana Arena decide di raccontare, in questo mémoire, il lungo e difficile percorso nella Terapia Intensiva Neonatale. L’intento è di mettere a fuoco il vissuto di una madre che si trova, inaspettatamente, in un mondo del quale neanche sospettava l’esistenza, a lottare con il suo bambino per la sopravvivenza e per una vita dignitosa.

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