Grandpa From Abroad: A Journey of Love, Loss and Homecoming

What does it mean to belong - and what happens when home no longer feels like home?Spanning from the mid-90s to 2024, this literary novel follows Ralph, the 18-year-old son of a prominent politician father and a highly successful entrepreneur mother. Leaving behind a life of privilege in Africa, Ralph finds himself thrust into the isolation of rural America-a place worlds apart from everything he once knew. His departure marks not just a family tradition, but a deeply personal milestone. Independent and determined not to live in his father's shadow, Ralph embraces the journey as his own.With his parents' full support, he leaves behind everything he has ever known to attend college in a small, rural American town. But nothing could have prepared him for what awaits on the other side of the world. In a place where the food tastes foreign, silence carries weight, and even smiles feel unfamiliar, Ralph finds himself struggling with more than just coursework. He encounters cultural collisions that shake his confidence, quiet humiliations that erode his sense of belonging, and a profound loneliness that spans oceans.As he struggles to navigate the jarring culture shock, Ralph must also face the sharp edges of love, betrayal, and the heavy burden of unspoken cultural expectations placed on so many African children sent abroad to study. The story captures the often unspoken realities of life in the diaspora-the deep loneliness tucked behind lively community gatherings, and the way young immigrants easily place trust in fellow members of the diaspora, only to sometimes face even deeper betrayals from within.As he navigates this new world-its accents, customs, and unspoken social rules-Ralph must learn not only how to adapt, but how to hold on to who he is. Through every misstep and breakthrough, every misunderstood word and unexpected friendship, his journey becomes one of inward transformation. The legacy he left behind-its values, memories, and ancestral echoes-continues to shape him in ways he never imagined.All while grappling with painful questions: Is the connection to home still the same? Are the bonds with family and relatives as strong as they once were, or have time and distance quietly eroded them? And when they finally choose to return home after decades abroad, another question lingers in their hearts: Is Africa truly ready for them? Is Africa even waiting for them - or have they become strangers everywhere, including the place they once called home?Written with tenderness and insight, Grandpa From Abroad is a powerful coming-of-age novel that explores migration, identity, and the emotional cost of reinvention. For readers of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Yaa Gyasi, this debut is a soulful meditation on home, heritage, and the quiet triumph of the human spirit across unfamiliar borders.

• | Author: Pauline E. M
• | Publisher: Independently Published
• | Publication Date: Jul 01, 2025
• | Number of Pages: 00330 pages
• | Binding: Paperback or Softback
• | ISBN-10: NA
• | ISBN-13: 9798282773491