My New American Life by Francine Prose Published by Harper

Lula, a twenty-six-year-old Albanian woman living surreptitiously in New York City on an expiring tourist visa, hopes to make a better life for herself in America. When she lands a job as caretaker to Zeke, a rebellious high school senior in suburban New Jersey, it seems that the security, comfort, and happiness of the American dream may finally be within reach. Her new boss, Mister Stanley, an idealistic college professor turned Wall Street executive, assumes that Lula is a destitute refugee of the Balkan wars. He enlists his childhood friend Don Settebello, a hotshot lawyer who prides himself on defending political underdogs, to straighten out Lula's legal situation. In true American fashion, everyone gets what he wants and feels good about it.

But things take a more sinister turn when Lula's Albanian "brothers" show up in a brand-new black Lexus SUV. Hoodie, Leather Jacket, and the Cute One remind her that all Albanians are family, but what they ask of her is no small favor. Lula's new American life suddenly becomes more complicated as she struggles to find her footing as a stranger in a strange new land. Is it possible that her new American life is not so different from her old Albanian one?

Set in the aftermath of 9/11, My New American Life offers a vivid, darkly humorous, bitingly real portrait of a particular moment in history, when a nation's dreams and ideals gave way to a culture of cynicism, lies, and fear. Beneath its high comic surface, the novel is a more serious consideration of immigration, of what it was like to live through the Bush-Cheney years, and of what it means to be an American.

An illuminating and ultimately upbeat look at America’s immigrant situation that all fiction readers will enjoy.”
—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

“In My New American Life, Francine Prose cracks open that old chestnut about the immigrant reinvention experience and injects, yes, new life into it.”
—USA Today

“Fun and funny,...a satire of immigration and its discontents...”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“Prose is in her sweet spot as a nimble chronicler of contemporary culture.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“A tangy mixture of satire and sentiment...Ms. Prose uses her heroine’s outside status to make a lot of funny…observations about the cosseted life of well-to-do Americans.”
—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

“Prose’s characters in MY NEW AMERICAN LIFE are complex and brilliantly drawn (culturally distinct but without the usual clichés).”
—Simon Van Booy, Bomb Magazine

“...a superb novel...a wickedly entertaining read...Prose is on top of her game...the fluidity of the prose surpassing, I think, her work in Blue Angel.”
-The Millions

“Utterly charming. Savvy about the shady practices of both US immigration authorities and immigrants themselves... Entertaining, light yet not trivial, a joy to read.”
—Lionel Shriver

“She’s a perfect observer of American life in the opening decade of the 21st century...21st century…Wry…witty…a book that brims with smart surprises.”
—Ron Carlson, New York Times Book Review

“Prose is dazzling in her sixteenth book of spiky fiction, a fast-flowing, bittersweet, brilliantly satirical immigrant story that subtly embodies the cultural complexity and political horrors of the Balkans and Bush-Cheney America.”
—Donna Seaman, Booklist

“Nothing is beyond the artistic reach of Francine Prose”
—Shelf Awareness

“Prose succeeds by transforming anxiety into compassion-it’s a little lever that gets tripped when we truly imagine what another person feels.”
—Los Angeles Times

“There has been a lot written about the Bush and Cheney days, but rarely from such an amusing perspective...at once honest, complicated, sexy, funny and-ultimately-uplifting.”
—BookPage

“Prose…is, as always, sharply intelligent.”
—NPR.org

About the Author
Francine Prose is the author of sixteen books of fiction. Her novel A Changed Man won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Blue Angel was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent works of nonfiction include the highly acclaimed Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. A former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Francine Prose lives in New York City.