Breath and Shadow,
by Ella Leffland

Three pairs of people, all from the same family but different generations, define their Danish past and present in this timeless novel.

Cloud Chamber,
by Michael Dorris
1997

Rose Mannion is a beautiful, strong-willed woman who leaves her Irish homeland for western Kentucky and who's legacy is felt by her family for generations afterward.

The Empress of the Splendid Season,
by Oscar Hijuelos
1999

This novel, by a Pulitzer Prize winning author, tells the story of a once prosperous Cuban woman who arrives in America to find herself working as a cleaning lady for wealthy New Yorkers. Her fortitude, dignity, and love triumph over difficulties in a new country.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents,
by Julia Alvarez
1992,

The Garcia girls leave their family home in the Dominican Republic for a new life in New York City where leaving the past is not always so easy.

Sometimes I Dream in Italian,
by Rita Ciresi
2000

Angel and Lina Lupo are two Italian American sisters with strong family influences and who are constantly at odds with their immigrant parents. It's a charming, insightful novel about growing up in a colorful, forceful family.

The Kitchen God's Wife,
by Amy Tan
1991

Secrets between friends and mothers and daughters are explored in this novel of three women reliving painful memories in their Chinese past..

A Long Way From Home,
by Connie Briscoe
1999

This multigenerational ,African-American novel speaks of courage, freedom, and love as one family of women, house slaves to James Madison, overcomes lives of bondage and sacrifice

One Thousand Chestnut Trees: A Novel of Korea,
by Mira Stout
1999

Anna, now an artist in Manhatten, curiously remembers the childhood visit of her Korean uncle and when her adult life becomes unfulfilling, she leaves the familiar to journey to Korea in order to discover her family's past.

Pears on a Willow Tree,
by Leslie Pietrzyk
1998

Four generations of Polish women tenderly learn to find balance between the traditions of the Old World and the hope of the new.

Stone Field, True Arrow,
by Kyoko Mori
2000

Maya Ishida is a young woman with a painful childhood. Separated as a girl from her father and native Japan to go live with her mother in Minneapolis, she must now faces issues of sacrifice, love, and risk to forge her future.

The Vision of Emma Blau,
by Ursula Hegi
2000

This is a beautifully written bicultural novel about a determined young man who leaves Germany to realize his dream of running a grand apartment house in America. As he, his wife, children, and grandchildren struggle with being both German and American, they eventually build a life of hope and belonging.

The Wholeness of a Broken Heart,
by Katie Singer
1999

This novel is told through the voices of four generation of Jewish women, all culminating in the troubled relationship between mother and daughter. When Hannah's mother stops communicating with her, she seeks answers through family photographs, stories, and memories that reveal a powerful, painful family history.

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