Unbelonging

"Where are you from?" For Catherine Jagoe, a set of complicated assumptions often lies behind this seemingly banal question. While partly an immigrant narrative, Jagoe's memoir in essays is not so much-or not only-about moving to the US and putting down roots but rather more about feeling perpetually in-between and never quite "home." Throughout, Jagoe wrestles with what identity and fidelity mean for a woman with three nationalities, a job as a translator who frequently lives in a fourth country, a history of depression, and chronically divided allegiances. Together, these essays paint a deeply personal yet incredibly relatable portrait of what it means to be an American-and an immigrant-in the twenty-first century.