The Art of Belonging Nowhere

Winner in Debut Fiction, Literary Global 2026 Independent Author Awards Winner in Multicultural Fiction, Literary Global 2026 Independent Author Awards Finalist in Contemporary Novel, Literary Global 2026 Independent Author Awards Finalist in Multicultural Fiction, 20th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards When museum curator Irina Zubova misses her flight home to Uzbekistan, she thinks she is choosing freedom. What she gets instead is a crash course in American survival-from homeless shelters to immigration detention, from the wreckage of alcoholism to the slow work of recovery. Stranded in Worcester, Massachusetts, Irina discovers that reinvention isn't about finding the perfect life. It's about learning to show up-for Mrs. Donatelli, the difficult widow who becomes her unlikely anchor; for Sam, the deportation-bound friend who teaches her the difference between running away and moving forward; and finally, for herself. "The Art of Belonging Nowhere" is a story about the courage required to leave behind beautiful cages, the messy work of making amends, and the communities that catch us when we finally stop performing worthiness and start practicing it instead. For readers who loved "Educated" by Tara Westover and "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston-a raw, funny, unflinching novel about what it takes to become someone you can live with.