Books for my diaspora heart

Books that illustrate some aspect of the immigrant experience - in fantasy, or in the real world; in childhood, or in old age; in history, or in the modern day. (work in progress - recs welcome!)

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created by ayzrules

last updated July, 2026

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Oh oh oh i love this!! At the top of my head Gilded Wolves would work here! Maybe Six of Crows too?

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ohh i've not read either but i'll add em in!!! gilded wolves sounds so cool!

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Seconding 🙌

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What a cool list!!! Exit West by Mohsin Hamid immediately came to mind. It's a magical realism novel that uses magical, suddenly-appearing doors as a way to illustrate migration. Such an intriguing concept. Some other potential suggestions đŸ„°: -On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong -The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier -The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen -The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee -Pedro PĂĄramo by Juan Rulfo -Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys -A Tempest by AimĂ© CĂ©saire -Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (RIP đŸ˜”đŸ«¶) -The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid -Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

Sorry for the overload đŸ€Ł I started going through my finished books and kept finding more haha. Great list!!! Edit: I love to see The Best We Could Do on here đŸ„č It's so underrated

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Whaaaat omg Exit West sounds cool! thanks for all these suggestions as well!

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It really is!! Hamid is such an underrated writer đŸ™‚â€â†•ïž and ofc! đŸ€©

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i love this list soooo much ayz đŸ„ș

for the portuguese diaspora, i’d recommend above the salt by katherine vaz (or any of her other works, namely her short story collection called ‘fado and other stories’ ). she was the first portuguese-american to have her work put in library of congress đŸ„č

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aww yay that's so cool - thanks so much for the recs!!!! they all sound so good, i added a bunch :D

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yay love that so much :’)))

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Babel! Cantonese boy in England!

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ahh, i forgot about that one! thank you!

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Greta & Valdin was incredible. There's a history of immigration that is important to the history of the family we follow!

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wait this actually sounds good?? TYSM for the recommendation!

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Of course đŸ„č I hope you get a chance to enjoy!

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Loved Greta & Valdin!

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Couple of recommendations! What a cool list: -We Are Not Free by Traci Chee -Shanghai Girls by Lisa See -A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum

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thank you so much for these suggestions!!

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Love this list!! Here's some recs I read during my college days -

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee Homebase: A Novel by Shawn Wong American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

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Oooo yay thanks for these, adding post haste! đŸ™‚â€â†•ïž

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If I may: Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga is a beautiful MG novel in verse.

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omg im tearing up just reading the description, thank you for the rec!

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Such a cool list 💓

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❀❀❀ aww gosh, so happy you think so!

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I think America Is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo would work really well for this list!

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Wowowow this sounds SO good? Thanks so much for the suggestion! ❀

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Would Pachinko qualify?

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oh yeah, totally! thank you for that note, i've added it!

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â˜ș

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Hi! Might I suggest Ru by Kim ThĂșy for this list? It’s a half-fictional, half autobiographical story about how a girl and her family escaped Vietnam through boats and settled in Canada. The book explains her struggles both in Vietnam and in adapting to her new country, Canada. Really eye-opening about the reality of boat people and how harsh immigration can be.

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Ahhh gosh thank you so much for the suggestion! This book sounds absolutely heartbreaking, i've added it and i can't wait to check it out myself

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I read it for school 2-3 years ago. Definitely heartbreaking, but there’s moments of healing too ❀‍đŸ©č Thank you for your wonderful list

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Oooo, love this! For a cozier one, I really liked Teller of Small Fortunes ❀

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that one sounds so nice!!! tysm, i added it! :D

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(nina’s other books all touch on this too hehehe) (no pressure tho)

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