There was a reason this novel was the inaugural winner of Simon & Schuster’s Books Like Us contest.
It's immersive, emotional, heartfelt. Beautifully well written in a way that makes me categorize it in the likes of Hello Beautiful and other books that border memoir & fiction.

With authentic characters & a journey that will immerse you, this debut novel will have you wanting more from Elba Iris Perez. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to enjoy this read before publishing!

In this sweet but emotive coming-of-age story we meet Andrea and Pablo who have grown up in a small Massachusetts factory town in the 1950s. Their lives are upended when their mother, missing her life in Puerto Rico, whisk her children away from their father. In Puerto Rico, the children find they don’t fit in, and yet, they also feel like outsiders in their Massachusetts hometown.

Upon returning to Massachusetts, Andrea seeks to identify her own values by blending both cultures but feels stifled by her father’s strict and outdated ideas.

Timely themes such as race, gender, intergenerational conflicts and cultural identity through the lens of the Rodriguez family. Without feeling heavy-handed, the story allows readers to consider their perspective in light of these characters.

READ THIS IF YOU:
-Enjoy a cross-cultural coming-of-age story
-Have ever felt like you don’t belong
-Appreciate an Own Voices debut

RATING: 4/5
PUB DATE: February 6, 2024

Many thanks to Simon & Shuster and NetGalley for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! It’s a multicultural, coming-of-age story about Andrea and Pablo, a brother and sister of Puerto Rican descent. They are young children when their mother takes them from their small Massachusetts community to her hometown in Puerto Rico. She leaves them with relatives who are ill-equipped to care for them in the manner they are accustomed. When their father tracks them down and brings them back to the US, they quickly acclimate back to their old lives, though with only their very, very strict and protective father to watch over them. It isn’t long before their cultures collide and they become enmeshed in two worlds.

It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel. It’s an emotional story told in beautiful prose with an immersive storyline that will bring out every emotion in the reader. It is equally heartwarming and heart wrenching. This book easily rates 5 stars from me and I highly recommend it. Thank you, NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC. Publication date is February 6, 2024.

This is one of those novels that is sweet but evokes so much pathos that it's often hard to read! Siblings Andrea and Pablo are born in Puerto Rico but eventually move with parents, Raquel and Don Luis. And then everything changes in an instant! Told from young Andrea's perspective, the book reveals her friendships, her strengths and weaknesses, and her disappointment when her mother leaves and her brother becomes secretive and begins lying to their dad. Perez addresses many themes: racism, sexual identity, mental illness, and more. It's lovely and both heartbreaking and heartwarming!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

This is the winner of Simon & Schuster’s Books Like Us contest, encouraging diverse voice. I am so glad it has been published. It is a coming of age story and the challenges for those that have diverse cultures than what others may be experiencing. Andrea and Pablo are Puerto Rican but also spend time in Massachusetts, making them an outsider in both cultures. This one has a powerful emotional message.

Elba Iris Perez's coming-of-age story, centered on a young Puerto Rican girl growing up in a 1950s Massachusetts factory town, is a vibrant, moving, and much needed addition to current historical fiction.

Andrea's world is quite confusing and turbulent for a nine year old; when her mother disappears with her and her brother to the mountains of Puerto Rico, she is thrust into a very different world from the factory town she knows. As her mother flits in and out of her life (and she moves from family member to family member), the instability, lack of schooling, and lack of regular meals lead them on a desparate attempt to contact their father. When they arrive back in Massachusetts, they are caught once again between two conflicts: their father's (and community's) overprotective nature and their yearning for a freer existence, as well as a changing America.

Although certainly not as nostalgic, this had me thinking of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at times, because of how attached I was to Andrea's journey from girlhood to young womanhood.


Many thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The inaugural winner ofSimon &Schusters books like us The Things We Didn’t Know a young girls story that travels between 1950sPuerto Rico and a small Massachusetts factory town.The story engaged me from the first pages so well written so involving.Willbe recommending.#netgalley #gallerybooks

THE THINGS WE DIDN"T KNOW is an engaging story that kept my attention from beginning the end. I especially appreciated the narrative voice, which invites the reader in. The passage of time is also handled remarkably well; the novel covers several decades of the protagonist's life. The sense of place is strong as well. I highly recommend this novel for fans family sagas and coming of age stories. It would be great for book clubs!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-galley; all opinions in this review are 100% my own.

With The Things We Didn’t Know, Elba Iris Pérez won Simon & Schuster’s inaugural Books Like Us First Novel Contest which aims to provide greater accessibility to publishing for historically underrepresented communities. Set in the 1950s, this evocatively written debut weaves a young girl’s experiences of her home a small factory town in Massachusetts with the unknown world of her family in the mountains of Puerto Rico.

I was lucky enough to win an eARC of THE THINGS WE DIDN'T KNOW by Elba Iris Pérez through a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thank you for the early look, and have a safe and happy autumn!

Well written story over told over decades of a young girl's experiences growing up in a sheltered home and factory town, with her brother and father. Recommended.