The Things We Didn't Know

By: Elba Iris Pérez

Narrated by: Marisa Blake

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

The USA TODAY bestselling inaugural winner of Simon & Schuster’s Books Like Us contest, Elba Iris Pérez’s lyrical and “wonderfully compelling” (Judith Simon Prager, author of What the Dolphin Said) cross-cultural coming-of-age debut novel explores a young girl’s childhood between 1950s Puerto Rico and a small Massachusetts factory town.

Andrea Rodríguez is nine years old when her mother whisks her and her brother, Pablo, away from Woronoco, the tiny Massachusetts factory town that is the only home they’ve known. With no plan and no money, she leaves them with family in the mountainside villages of Puerto Rico and promises to return.

Months later, when Andrea and Pablo are brought back to Massachusetts, they find their hometown significantly changed. As they navigate the rifts between their family’s values and all-American culture and face the harsh realities of growing up, they must embrace both the triumphs and heartache that mark the journey to adulthood.

A heartfelt, evocative portrait that “breathes with narrative magic” (Harry Youtt, poet and author of I’m Never Not Thinking of You), The Things We Didn’t Know establishes Elba Iris Pérez as a sensational new literary voice.

Peak into similar world

As a Latina, it had some similarities to my own childhood but it also had a lot of similarities to my mom’s childhood. It gave me a peak into her experience as a kid growing up. Maybe that’s why the book kept my attention but regardless I loved this book, like I said, it didn’t get boring once. I was hooked on Andrea’s story

Family love

I didn’t like the mother. She was a selfish self-centered person who used her children to get money.

Incredible Story of an Immigrant-Transplant Experience

I was hooked after chapter 11. Pablo’s story really stood out as well. Immigrants + First Generation citizens are often led under a strict household and also making a valid effort to assimilate to American society. Wonderful read.

Excellent, riveting!

This is beautifully written and I hope to hear more from this author. She takes the reader with her through each and every experience

Beautiful story …

Great book about the love in a family and overcoming issues. Wonderfully written story that I will share.