NEWCOMERS

From an award-winning, “meticulously observant” (The New Yorker) writer comes a powerful, groundbreaking, and moving account of how refugee teenagers from around the world learn English and become Americans at a Denver public high school.

The Newcomers follows the lives of 22 immigrant teenagers throughout the course of the 2015-2016 school year as they land at South High School in Denver, Colorado in an English Language Acquisition class specifically created for them. Speaking no English, unfamiliar with American culture, and yet irrepressible teenagers, their stories are poignant and remarkable as they face the enormous challenge of adapting. These newcomers can be anywhere from fourteen to nineteen years old, and some do not know exactly how old they are. They come from nations convulsed by drought or famine or war, countries that are barely countries anymore. Many come directly from refugee camps, after experiencing dire forms of cataclysm. Every so often, a student arrives alone, having left or lost every other member of his or her original family.

Unusual in its commitment to supporting refugee and immigrant students, South High School in Denver has long been the first stop for refugees fleeing global crises, and its makeup mirrors the state of the globe. If a civil war erupts halfway around the world, South’s teachers know that in a few months or a few years, they will see the children of that place, made nomadic by violence. At the center of The Newcomers is Mr. Williams, the dedicated and endlessly resourceful teacher of South's very beginner English Language Acquisition class. If Mr. Williams does his job right, the newcomers will leave his class at the end of the school year with the basic English skills and new confidence, their foundation for becoming Americans and finding a place in their new home.

With the US at a political crossroads around questions of immigration, multiculturalism, and America’s role on the global stage, Helen Thorpe presents a fresh and nuanced perspective. The Newcomers is a transformative take on these timely, important issues.


Helen Thorpe is an award-winning journalist who lives in Denver, Colorado. Her newspaper and magazine work has been published in The New York Observer, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Texas Monthly, and 5280. She is the author of two previous books, Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America and Soldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War.