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Somewhere in the Unknown World

By: Kao Kalia Yang
Narrated by: Kao Kalia Yang, Kurt Kwan
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Publisher's summary

From “an exceptional storyteller”, Somewhere in the Unknown World is a collection of powerful stories of refugees who have found new lives in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, told by the award-winning author of The Latehomecomer and The Song Poet.

All over this country, there are refugees. But beyond the headlines, few know who they are, how they live, or what they have lost. Although Minnesota is not known for its diversity, the state has welcomed more refugees per capita than any other, from Syria to Bosnia, Thailand to Liberia. Now, with nativism on the rise, Kao Kalia Yang - herself a Hmong refugee - has gathered stories of the stateless who today call the Twin Cities home.

Here are people who found the strength and courage to rebuild after leaving all they hold dear. Awo and her mother, who escaped from Somalia, reunite with her father on the phone every Saturday, across the span of continents and decades. Tommy, born in Minneapolis to refugees from Cambodia, cannot escape the war that his parents carry inside. As Afghani flees the reach of the Taliban, he seeks at every stop what he calls a certificate of his humanity. Mr. Truong brings pho from Vietnam to Frogtown in St. Paul, reviving a crumbling block as well as his own family.

In Yang’s exquisite, necessary telling, these 14 stories for refugee journeys restore history and humanity to America's strangers and redeem its long tradition of welcome.

A Macmillan Audio production from Metropolitan Books

©2020 Kao Kalia Yang (P)2020 Macmillan Audio
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Critic reviews

Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2020

What listeners say about Somewhere in the Unknown World

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Understanding refugees

My heart has always gone out to refugees, even more now, hearing their stories. Too many times I've heard people say how refugees get all this help with food and housing. And that even though they have never contributed to society, they live as well, if not better than we do. I think we all need to hear these stories, and more, of how they have come to be here, and how they live. Somewhere in the unknown world is very well written.

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