When Leah Lax was asked to write an opera to celebrate local immigrants, she began by spending a year listening to accounts of upheaval, migration, and arrival told to her in confidence by people new to this country from around the globe. She felt she had discovered America, found its great beating heart.
In interludes between the powerful stories in Not From Here, Leah uncovers the lost history of her Jewish family and finds a larger context for her own story. “In a way,” she writes, “we Americans are all immigrants.”
“A masterwork! Brilliant, profound, heart-shattering, hopeful — I couldn’t breathe! Not From Here is full of stories of people who hang onto hope, who will not give up struggling for what could be, interspersed with Leah’s own extraordinary journey. This is the kind of book that leaves you forever changed.” —Caroline Leavitt, NYTimes bestselling author
“Leah Lax understands that everyone has a story and a secret. To experience this ourselves, we have only to read her utterly irresistible Not From Here.” —Gloria Steinem
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Nonfiction
Not From Here: The Song of America
- Review
September 1, 2023
Discussion Questions
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