The Mongrel: Bi-cultural Adventures of a Latina-Scandinavian Youth

by Connie Carmona Fisher

In Connie Carmona Fisher's memoir, The Mongrel, Bi-cultural Adventures of a Latina-Scandinavian Youth, a summertime trip to Mexico at the onset of World War II changed the course of the Carmona family. Instead of returning to their home in California, eight-year-old Connie and her family remained undocumented in the Mexican capital where she grew up to experience a bi-cultural life in two languages.

The eldest daughter of a South American father from Chile and a mother born of Finnish immigrants, Connie's story reveals her universal, ongoing search to identify a place where she belongs.

Connie Fisher’s book presents a series of lively, youthful ventures juxtaposed by timely world events that show her unafraid to defy convention, or plunge into a world unwelcome to women. The Mongrel reveals bi-cultural experiences growing up nearly a century ago. It's a story that leaves the reader with a desire to learn even more about living in a multicultural world.

306 pages, Paperback

Published March 7, 2024

Reviews

[Gilda Syverson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Connie Carmona Fisher’s memoir, The Mongrel, we are transported into the past, into another country, another time, another space, another place where you wish you could visit and stay awhile, be a part of her rich deep Latino family. Mexico City is not where the story begins, but it certainly is what made Connie yearn for adventure throughout her childhood, young adult life and onward, as she steps forward into the world. Connie’s story actually begins in California, until her father drives the whole brood—Connie, her four siblings, and her mother—to Mexico one summer and then … they stay. Step into another country with the then Connie Carmona. You will want to travel with her there and anywhere she wants to go, if only you could.

[Ann Campanella · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fellow compatriot of a foreign country in my own youth, I was mesmerized by Connie Carmona Fisher's experience of moving multiple times and adapting to a colorful life in Mexico. An experienced journalist, Connie carries the tension of "being the essence of a powerful mix" of her Finnish mother and Chilean father throughout the book. The Mongrel weaves a treasure trove of historical anecdotes with an intimate story of a young girl coming of age against the vivid backdrop of an evolving Latino culture.