They Came to America: The Immigrant Experience

The loved ones we call the dead, depart from us and for a while are absent.
And then as if called back by our love, they come near us again.
They enter our dreams.
We feel they have been near us when we have not thought of them.
They are simply here, simply waiting while we are distracted among our obligations.
At last it comes to us: They live now in the permanent world.
We are the absent ones.

Wendall Barry

We had a conversation about the immigrant experience in the Genealogy Class I teach. I said I would put together some novels, movies and perhaps non-fiction resources. There are thousands of books and films that would meet this criteria. So this is a select, condensed list from some of the countries that are well represented in America. It is a work in progress. If I have missed some you would like included please message me or add to comments and I will review for addition.

Often novels paint a fuller picture of the immigrant experience; leaving their motherland for America and their new lives here. They may help us better understand our own ancestors journeys. Historical fiction, diaries, letters and non-fiction can help us flesh out our ancestors stories. I have found novels and diaries invaluable to my research.

AUSTRIA

Novels

• The Exiles Return (2014) by Elisabeth de Waal
• A Ritchie Boy (2020) by Linda Kass — Begins in 1938

Non-Fiction

• One Eye Laughing, The Other Eye Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss, Vienna, Austria to New York 1938 2000
• From Austria to America: Franz Luger’s Immigrant Experience (2024) by John Luger

Movie

• The Sound of Music (1965)

CROATIA

Novels

• The Cheesemaker’s Daughter (2024) by Kristin Vukovic
• The California Immigrant (2019) by Barbara Anne King
  

Non-Fiction

• Immigrant Daughter: Stories You Never Told Me (2019) by Catherine Kapphahn
• The Croatian Immigrants in America: A historical study by George J. Prpic
• Croatian Pioneers in America, 1685-1900 by Adam S. Eterovich that covers the early history of Croatian immigrants in the US.
• Immigration of Ljubuški Croats to America: 1900 – 1914 by Ante Čuvalo

DENMARK

Novels

• Kingdom Come and The Evening and the Morning by Virginia Sorensen a series of Mormon novels about Danish immigrants to Utah
• A Merchant’s House by Kristian Ostergaard Danish immigrant life in early Omaha, Nebraska

Non-fiction

• Tante Johanne–1887-1910: Letters of a Denmark Immigrant Family by Tante Johanne A compilation of correspondence from a Danish woman living in rural Iowa
• Denmark to Dakota: The Story of a Danish-American Immigrant Family (2022) by Richard E. Klein
• New Life: Danish emigration to North America as described by the emigrants (1994) by Niels Peter Stilling

Movies

• The Journey to America Danish Immigrants TV documentary 3 part series

ENGLAND

Novels

• A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620 by Kathryn Lask, The diary of a young Pilgrim girl who makes the dangerous journey on the Mayflower to America
• Thee Edge of Lost by Phillip DePoy historical novel set in the early years of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan Ist Book of 4 by Beverly Swerling 

Non-fiction

• Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford: A first-hand account of the Pilgrims’ journey & early experiences
• Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick Historical narrative
• The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640 — A Concise Compendium, 2nd Edition by Robert Charles Anderson
• Puritan Pedigrees: The Deep Roots of the Great Migration to New England by Robert Charles Anderson
• The Mayflower Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth, 1620 Robert Charles Anderson
• Saints and Strangers (1981) by George F Willson
• The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier (2005) by Colin Woodard About immigration to Maine
• An Account of Two Voyages to New-England 1638 and 1633 By JOHN JOSSELYN, Gent.

Movies

• American Experience: The Pilgrims (2015): A PBS documentary
• The Pilgrims (2015): A TV movie that covers the Mayflower journey
• Saints & Strangers (2015): A National Geographic miniseries

FRANCE

Novels

• The Champlain Road (1939) by Franklin D. McDowell story of early French settlers in Canada, starting in the 1600s.
• Daughters of the Deer (2022) by Danielle Daniel Starts in 1657
• Bride of New France (2013) by Suzanne Desrochers

Non-Fiction

• French Immigrants and Pioneers in the Making of America (2022) by Marie-Pierre Le Hir
• When the United States Spoke French: Five Refuges That Shaped the Nation (2014) by Francois Furstenberg
• Memoirs of a French Immigrant (2009) by Georges Henri Caron
• French Fur Traders and Voyageurs in the American West (1997) by LeRoy R. Hafen
• French Roots in the Illinois Country: The Mississippi Frontier in Colonial Times (2000) by Carl J. Ekberg

Movies

• Acadie/Liberté: A 1993 docudrama

GERMANY

Novels

• The Next Ship Home: A Novel of Ellis Island (2022) by Heather Webb
• Tillie, a Mennonite Maid: A Story of the Pennsylvania Dutch, by Helen Reimensnyder Martin

Non-Fiction

• From Württemberg to the New World: The 400-Year Journey of a Pennsylvania German Family (2023) by Bret A. Matz
• Diary of a Voyage from Rotterdam to Philadelphia in 1728 Annonymous
• Becoming German: The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York (2006) by Philip L. Otterness
• A German-American Tale: Memoir of a German Immigrant (2017) by Annika Romero and Gustav Streckfuss
• German Immigrants, American Pioneers: The Brunners of Schifferstadt (2019) by Patricia Ogden and Boyce Rensberger

Movies

• Sweet Land (2005)
• The German-Americans: 300 Years in the New Land (1983)
• Hester Street (1975) focused on Jewish immigrants late 1800’s

GREECE

Novels

• Daughter of Ruins (2024) by Yvette Manessis Corporon
• Rain in the Valley (2005) by Helen Papanikolas

Non-Fiction

• Greeks in America (1913) by Thomas Burgess
• Small Bird, Tell Me: Stories of Greek Immigrants in Utah (1993) by Helen Papanikolas

Movies

• The Journey: The Greek American Dream (2007)
• America, America (1963): Directed by Elia Kazan

HOLLAND

Fiction

• City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan Ist Book of 4 by Beverly Swerling
• New York: The Novel (2010) by Edward Rutherfurd
• Waves of Mercy: Dual Timeline Historical Fiction (2016) by Lynn Austin

Non-Fiction

• Three Visitors to Early Plymouth by Altham, Pory, and Rasieres 1622-1627
• Cruel Paradise: Life Stories of Dutch Emigrants (2018) by Hylke Speerstra
• Netherlanders in America: Dutch Immigration to the United States and Canada, 1789-1950 (1989) by Henry Stephen Lucas
• Faith and Family: Dutch Immigration and Settlement in the United States, 1820-1920 (2000) by Robert P. Swierenga

FIlms

• New York: A Documentary PBS explores the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam
• New Netherland: The Early Years PBS

IRELAND

Novels

• Even Small Birds Fly Free (2024) Pádraig O’Gorman
• Saints for All Occasions (2017) by J. Courtney Sullivan
• Out of Ireland (2023) by Marian O’Shea Wernicke
• The Irish Girl (2024) by Ashley E. Sweeney
• The Heart’s Invisible Furies (2017) by John Boyne

Non-fiction

• Emigrants and Exile: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America (1988) by Kerby A. Miller ·
• Angela’s Ashes: A memoir (1999) by Frank McCourt
• Journey of Hope: The Story of Irish Immigration to America (2001) by Kerby Miller
• The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America (2016) by Damian Sheils
• The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America (1998) by Edward Laxton
• The Lost Child of Philomena Lee (2010) by Martin Sixsmith:

Movies

• Out of Ireland (1995): Documentary traces the history of Irish immigration to the United States
• The Forgotten Irish (2002): A documentary about the lives of Irish immigrants who were forced to leave as children. 
• Philomena (2013) Based on the book

ITALY

Novels

• Unto the Sons (2006) by Gay Talese
• The Next Ship Home: A Novel of Ellis Island (2022) by Heather Webb
• The Lies They Told ( July 29, 2025) by Ellen Marie Wiseman

Non-Fiction

• Creole Italian: Sicilian Immigrants and the Shaping of New Orleans Food Culture (2018) by Justin A. Nystrom
• La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American (1993) by Jerre Mangione
• Growing Up Italian-American: The Memoirs of Ferdinand Visco & The Stories of Two Immigrant Italian Families (July 19, 2017) by Ferdinand J. Visco M.D.

Movies

• Cabrini (2024) Story of Mother Francesca Cabrini, her work establishing orphanages and healthcare for the poor
• Golden Door (2006), A Sicilian family’s journey in the early 1900s
• Paesani (2022) documentary,mass Italian immigration to the United States between 1890 and 1930.  

MEXICO & LATIN AMERICA

Novels

• How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (2010) by Julia Alvarez – Dominican
• Into the Beautiful North (2010) by Luis Alberto Urrea
• The Book of Unknown Americans (2015) by Cristina Henríquez

Non-Fiction

• Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries, and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration (2018) by Alfredo Corchado
• Even the Women Are Leaving: Migrants Making Mexican America, 1890–1965 (2023) by Larisa L. Veloz

Movies

• Sin Nombre (2009) Honduran teenager and a Mexican gang member
• Under the Same Moon (2007): A young boy in Mexico tries to reunite with his mother in the United States.
• A Better Life (2011): An undocumented Mexican immigrant in East L.A.
• El Norte (1983): A Guatemalan brother and sister flee to the U.S.
• The Golden Dream (2013): A road movie about teenage immigrants journey to the U.S.

NORWAY

Novels

• Across the Deep Blue Sea: The Saga of Early Norwegian Immigrants:  by Odd S. Lovoll that chronicles the journey of early Norwegian immigrants through Canadian ports.
• Grass of the Earth: The Story of A Norwegian Immigrant Family in Dakota: by Aagot Raaen Norwegian immigrant family in the Dakota territory.
• Haymaker in Heaven (2022) by Edvard Hoem based on the author’s own family history
• Westward We Came: A Norwegian Immigrant’s Story, 1866-1898: A historical novel focusing on the immigrant experience during this specific period.
• The Follinglo Dog Book: A Norwegian pioneer story set in Iowa. (1999) Peder Gustav Tjernagel

Non- fiction

• Norway to America: A History of the Migration: A historical account of the migration of Norwegians to the United States.
• The Diary of Elisabeth Koren 1853-1855 (2015) trans by Davis T. Nelson
• In Their Own Words: Letters from Norwegian Immigrants: A collection of letters that provides firsthand accounts of the immigrant experience.
• Norwegians on the Prairie: Ethnicity and the Development of the Country Town: A book by Odd S. Lovoll that explores the development of Norwegian-American communities.
• Nothing to Do but Stay: My Pioneer Mother (1993) by Carrie Young set in North Dakota

Movies

• Utvandrarna (The Emigrants) (2021): A Norwegian-Swedish drama about Swedish emigrants traveling to the United States in the 1840s, based on Vilhelm Moberg’s book series.

POLAND

Novels

• We Were the Lucky Ones (2018) by Georgia Hunter
• The Daughters (2015) by Adrienne Celt

Non-Fiction

• The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (1996) by William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki
• Polish Immigration to America: When, Why, How and Where (2016) by Stephen Szabados

Movies

• The Fourth Partition (2013) Poles to Chicago in the late 19th century
• Sophie’s Choice (1982) explores the life of a Polish immigrant in post-WWII Brooklyn

RUSSIA

Novels

• A Russian Immigrant: Three Novellas (2019) by Maxim D. Shrayer:
• My Ántonia by Willa Cather: this classic American novel features a significant storyline about Bohemian immigrants in the American Midwest
• A Prison Camp Guard’s Story and The Compromise, by Sergei Dovlatov
• The Russian Debutante’s Handbook by Tom Rachman a novel about an American of Russian descent who moves to Prague to uncover his family’s history.

Nonfiction
 

• Red, White & New: Tales of Young Russian Americans (2021) by Ariel Kirman A collection of short stories
• A Mountain of Crumbs (2011) by Elena Gorokhova

Movie

• Moscow on the Hudson (1984)
• These Russian Immigrants Filmed Their New Life in America (2020)

SCOTLAND

Novels

• A Place Called Freedom (2019) by Kent Follett Scotland, 1767
• Outlander 10 books (1992-2026) By Diana Galbadon
• Smoke on the Wind (2025) by Kelli Estes
• A Wild and Heavenly Place (2024) by Robin Oliveira

Non-Fiction

• Colonists from Scotland: emigration to North America, 1707-1783 (1972) by Ian Charles Cargill Graham
• Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607–1785 (2004) by David Dobson
• Scotch Irish Pioneers: In Ulster And America (2019) by Charles Knowles Bolton

Movies

• Outlander TV Series (2014-2026)
• Voices Over the Water (2025)

SWEDEN

Novels

• The Immigrants, (1995) by Vilhelm Moberg’s also a movie
• Honoring Anna (2018) by Douglas Hof multi novel series begins in Sweden
• Swede Hollow (2020) by Ola Larsmo
• O Pioneers (1913) Willa Cather

Non-fiction

• Swedish Exodus: The History of the Swedish Emigration to North America (1996) by Lars Ljungmark
• The Old Country and the New: Essays on Swedes and America (2006) by H. Arnold Barton
• Letters From the Promised Land: Swedes in America, 1840-1914 (1980) by H. Arnold Barton:
• I Go to America: Swedish-American Women and the Life of Mina Anderson (2012) by Joy Lintelman
• Swedes in Minnesota (People of Minnesota) (2004) by Scott G. Christianson and E. Paul Erickson: Swedish immigrant experience in Minnesota

Movies

• The Emigrants (1971) and its sequel The New Land (1972),

OTHER Countries

• The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline England to Australia
• The Costumier’s Gift (2019) by Vicky Adin Part of a series,multi-generational family saga New Zealand
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2008) by Junot Díaz — Dominican
• Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1978) by Alex Haley — Africa
• The Joy Luck Club (2006) by Amy Tan — novel of 4 Chinese Immigrants to San Francisco
• Homegoing (2017) by Yaa Gyasi novel of 8 generations from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi

Please note as I add more resources I may be able to give more countries their due. I began with countries I have researched or represent those in my classes.

Kelly Wheaton ©2025 All Rights Reserved