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Reviewed by Anastacia Zittel for Readers' Favorite
The Girl Immigrant by Patricia Ruiz Steele is a wonderful biography of the author's family, specifically Manuela, the author's grandmother. Manuela's family comes from Spain, and they were promised a new life, education for their children, homes and jobs, if they immigrated to Hawaii to work on sugar plantations. After a few years of living in Hawaii, the family chooses to continue their adventures by moving to California. The book is filled with family photos, legal documents, and other historical elements to round out the family history, from the family's early days in Spain to moving to the United States. Patricia Ruiz Steele writes with a lot of passion for her family history, and gives you a sense of what life was like in early 20th century Hawaii and California.
Manuela's adventures in The Girl Immigrant were heartbreaking at times. I really felt like I got to know her family and her life as she shared her adventures with me. I felt her pain and heartbreak when she did, and shared her joys when she was happy. How a multi-generational family separates from one another, knowing that they will never see or hear from each other again, and moves halfway across the world with a bunch of young kids and babies, with next to no earthly possessions, I'll never know. The Girl Immigrant takes you back into another time and place. It reads more as a biography and a history book than a memoir, and will make you wonder if the author will write a sequel detailing the rest of Manuela's life.
