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Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of An American History comes a heartbreaking yet redemptive memoir about migration, separation, and the love of one family forcing its way through the fissures of history.
In 1963, four years after Fidel Castro came to power, Ada Ferrer’s mother made the agonizing decision to flee Cuba with her infant daughter, Ada, and to leave behind her nine-year-old son, Poly. That moment was but a ripple in a much larger story of a world historical revolution. Yet, in another more intimate family history, that choice was a crossroads, ultimately inseparable from who and what they all became.
In this beautiful memoir, Ferrer masterfully shifts between her roles as historian and family member, weaving a multigenerational tale that reaches into the past to understand the circumstances and choices that led to the present. We see key historical events through the eyes of the the grandmother who raised Poly after Ada’s departure, a Black woman born a year after the end of slavery in Cuba; Ada’s parents, forced to invent themselves anew in a foreign land; and two brothers left behind—Poly and another, once-secret brother named Juan José, both of whose lives were marked irrevocably by revolution and family separation. Moving between Cuba and the United States and then back again, the book unpacks the experience and emotion of migration, in the moment of separation and over the long-term, for those who left and those who stayed.
Using a treasure trove of letters written across the gulf of family separation and found after the death of Ada’s parents, as well as government documents acquired through Freedom of Information Act requests, Ferrer offers us a profound reflection on belonging, memory, and the lasting imprint of history.
In 1963, four years after Fidel Castro came to power, Ada Ferrer’s mother made the agonizing decision to flee Cuba with her infant daughter, Ada, and to leave behind her nine-year-old son, Poly. That moment was but a ripple in a much larger story of a world historical revolution. Yet, in another more intimate family history, that choice was a crossroads, ultimately inseparable from who and what they all became.
In this beautiful memoir, Ferrer masterfully shifts between her roles as historian and family member, weaving a multigenerational tale that reaches into the past to understand the circumstances and choices that led to the present. We see key historical events through the eyes of the the grandmother who raised Poly after Ada’s departure, a Black woman born a year after the end of slavery in Cuba; Ada’s parents, forced to invent themselves anew in a foreign land; and two brothers left behind—Poly and another, once-secret brother named Juan José, both of whose lives were marked irrevocably by revolution and family separation. Moving between Cuba and the United States and then back again, the book unpacks the experience and emotion of migration, in the moment of separation and over the long-term, for those who left and those who stayed.
Using a treasure trove of letters written across the gulf of family separation and found after the death of Ada’s parents, as well as government documents acquired through Freedom of Information Act requests, Ferrer offers us a profound reflection on belonging, memory, and the lasting imprint of history.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published May 19, 2026
About the author
Ada Ferrer
7 books248 followersAda Ferrer is Julius Silver Professor of History and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, where she has taught since 1995. She is the author of Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868–1898, which won the 2000 Berkshire Book Prize for the best first book by a woman in any field of history, and Freedom’s Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution, which won the Frederick Douglass Prize from the Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale University, as well as multiple prizes from the American Historical Association. Born in Cuba and raised in the US, she has been traveling to and conducting research on the island regularly since 1990.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
July 1, 2026
A beautiful and fascinating tale of Cuba, America, and one family. Ferrer is an historian, a Pulitzer-winning one, but she is also a daughter, sister, and mother. She proves that a scrupulous relation of history can still have pathos and joy. This is also a celebration of immigration and immigrants. It was a beautiful thing.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
At the heart of Keeper of My Kin by Ada Ferrer is an impossible choice. Do you leave a child behind to save the other? In this case, the author's mother took her out of Cuba to live in America, but had to leave behind her son, Poly, whose father would not let the boy leave Cuba. Since the author had a different father who already left the island, Ferrer's mother had a choice to make. She left Cuba.
This kicks off Ferrer's memoir and, for good or bad, the real crux of the story relies on how Poly grows up and reunites with the family. The story is strongest with Poly at the center, although Ferrer also touches on other aspects of being Cuban in America while also having family back behind Castro's theoretical wall.
Ferrer won the Pulitzer Prize for her previous work on Cuban history, and there is no letdown with this one. I will say that the seams of the story show at times. She is writing about people whom she didn't know or for whom she doesn't have records. These sections require some conjecture, and I did find myself less invested. However, Poly is never gone from the narrative long and the push and pull of his story make this one a fascinating read.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by NetGalley and Scribner Books.)
This kicks off Ferrer's memoir and, for good or bad, the real crux of the story relies on how Poly grows up and reunites with the family. The story is strongest with Poly at the center, although Ferrer also touches on other aspects of being Cuban in America while also having family back behind Castro's theoretical wall.
Ferrer won the Pulitzer Prize for her previous work on Cuban history, and there is no letdown with this one. I will say that the seams of the story show at times. She is writing about people whom she didn't know or for whom she doesn't have records. These sections require some conjecture, and I did find myself less invested. However, Poly is never gone from the narrative long and the push and pull of his story make this one a fascinating read.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by NetGalley and Scribner Books.)
May 27, 2026
LOVED LOVED LOVED this book.
It an honest reflection of the heart- wrenching choices made when families separate to immigrate to a new country. The new place is never perfect, the old place had part of a life that cannot be transplanted and always , always there is collateral hurt and damage that cannot be undone. The immigrant story is complex. Ana Ferrer reveals how you can leave a country, a culture, a family but IT never leaves you. Her opportunities and successes are tempered by bittersweet realizations that chance and random choices played pivotal, critically important roles in the trajectory that is her life. She honors her family in keeping their histories documented and alive. The families’ past is integrated in her present and is bequeathed to her future decedents and to us in this BEAUTIFUL memoir
It an honest reflection of the heart- wrenching choices made when families separate to immigrate to a new country. The new place is never perfect, the old place had part of a life that cannot be transplanted and always , always there is collateral hurt and damage that cannot be undone. The immigrant story is complex. Ana Ferrer reveals how you can leave a country, a culture, a family but IT never leaves you. Her opportunities and successes are tempered by bittersweet realizations that chance and random choices played pivotal, critically important roles in the trajectory that is her life. She honors her family in keeping their histories documented and alive. The families’ past is integrated in her present and is bequeathed to her future decedents and to us in this BEAUTIFUL memoir
September 5, 2026
I’ve seriously had a book hangover after this memoir of immigration and family separation. I cried multiple times listening to this on audio. Ferrer beautifully and emotionally captures what it’s like to leave your country at a young age (for her: 10 months old, for me 7 years old); you forget who you were before, the family you left without your knowledge, a part of your identity will always be gone. She weaves her Cuban family story exploring family members left behind, including siblings (devastating) and trying to reunite. Families are complex, personalities clash, motivations are fuzzy, and ultimately our parents and grandparents pass and we’re left yes with a better life, but one that’s hard sometimes in ways that it will never be for fully planted Americans here in the U.S. I was so sad but felt so seen reading this book.
“I would never know the grandmother in all my mother’s stories. The grandmother she insisted loved me so much. Migration can sever so much.”
“The program started and immediately our living room was awash in scenes of Havana. At one time my parents’ eyes might’ve moistened at the images but they didn’t. I was riveted, almost holding my breath, and then I started to tear up. My parents stared at me unbelieving. They weren’t crying, why was I? And I recall with absolute certainty what I said in response: “Because I was born there but I can’t remember it.””
“I would never know the grandmother in all my mother’s stories. The grandmother she insisted loved me so much. Migration can sever so much.”
“The program started and immediately our living room was awash in scenes of Havana. At one time my parents’ eyes might’ve moistened at the images but they didn’t. I was riveted, almost holding my breath, and then I started to tear up. My parents stared at me unbelieving. They weren’t crying, why was I? And I recall with absolute certainty what I said in response: “Because I was born there but I can’t remember it.””
July 10, 2026
This is honest, historial non-fiction upon the author's extended family (kin both sides and through 4 levels of generation). She is an historian and writes exactly as an historian. This despite the emotions and leftover tangents for the reality of sequences that have occurred over more than 70 years of time. She accomplished a difficult, difficult task supremely well. Then why only 3 stars? Because it is so specific and so detailed to onus and association that the dozens and dozens of individuals being defined (by paper trails of every authoritative or governmental issue)- that it reads dry.
Yet, she more than half a dozen times returns to the emotions of guilt she owns for being the child taken "with". (Yes, I am Chicago but do know you are not supposed to end a sentence with a proposition.) So much does she retain her own guilt and also that of her mother too? Well, that is what it is but it did not need to be so emphasized as if that was unusual. Or that Poly's fate, having a different father and no permission from him would in the long run be much different. It would not have. That piecemeal movement is exactly how most families have emigrated from their homelands, and not at all just Cubans. In fact, Cubans in ALL eras have had it much easier than many, many others from a distance or other region. And her constant complaining about not being able to go home to visit kin like all her neighbors from other Carib locations? More than half the people I grew up with NEVER saw their parents or grandparents again. This was true of all my Sicilians and true for a 9 year separation between my German grandfather and grandmother during the early 1930's. She got accepted in 1933 and he was here from the mid 1920's. She was also sent back once for asthma and being underweight. There ARE rules. Always were too. Visiting back was not only nearly impossible but way too costly to be even considered. Only the Polish, Mexicans or the Lithuanians have in THIS century been able to afford or secure safety in legal up and back one more time fashion. As late as the 1990's I know people who could not get back once they left to "visit".
Well, it wasn't an easy read because of the dryness quotient to tell, tell, tell and source material cited on each detail. But it was at least 3.5 stars at points. I LOVED her grandma Rita's story. She sure was a pistol. But you have to understand that these are many, many people in her bloodline before you take this on. The kind with 45 first cousins and 23 or 27 uncles and aunts. Not at all like a family unit of norm in any USA scenario today. With a greater than 6 per woman average of offspring- more than Somalia. Her one grandfather alone had 17 kids from3 or 4 "wives" that were recognized for sure.
I'm a bad audience for books like these because it is way, way harder to get citizenship for most European or South American immigrants than it is for Cubans in any era. It's even easier than for Mexican nationals. But it can be done within 3 years or so. So I very much admire her parents and many others who took the route legally and with high held heads all the way. So I have huge memory of comparisons. And yet I enjoyed her English/Spanish dual abilities to a 4.5 star level. That was an essential key to all the moves in location and in upward economics. Using BOTh in excellence and practice.
This will most probably be more interesting to read for those who didn't live through these crisis times or were not aware and adult during the boat lifts. Photos are in all cases at least 4.5 stars despite some of them being blurry.
Yet, she more than half a dozen times returns to the emotions of guilt she owns for being the child taken "with". (Yes, I am Chicago but do know you are not supposed to end a sentence with a proposition.) So much does she retain her own guilt and also that of her mother too? Well, that is what it is but it did not need to be so emphasized as if that was unusual. Or that Poly's fate, having a different father and no permission from him would in the long run be much different. It would not have. That piecemeal movement is exactly how most families have emigrated from their homelands, and not at all just Cubans. In fact, Cubans in ALL eras have had it much easier than many, many others from a distance or other region. And her constant complaining about not being able to go home to visit kin like all her neighbors from other Carib locations? More than half the people I grew up with NEVER saw their parents or grandparents again. This was true of all my Sicilians and true for a 9 year separation between my German grandfather and grandmother during the early 1930's. She got accepted in 1933 and he was here from the mid 1920's. She was also sent back once for asthma and being underweight. There ARE rules. Always were too. Visiting back was not only nearly impossible but way too costly to be even considered. Only the Polish, Mexicans or the Lithuanians have in THIS century been able to afford or secure safety in legal up and back one more time fashion. As late as the 1990's I know people who could not get back once they left to "visit".
Well, it wasn't an easy read because of the dryness quotient to tell, tell, tell and source material cited on each detail. But it was at least 3.5 stars at points. I LOVED her grandma Rita's story. She sure was a pistol. But you have to understand that these are many, many people in her bloodline before you take this on. The kind with 45 first cousins and 23 or 27 uncles and aunts. Not at all like a family unit of norm in any USA scenario today. With a greater than 6 per woman average of offspring- more than Somalia. Her one grandfather alone had 17 kids from3 or 4 "wives" that were recognized for sure.
I'm a bad audience for books like these because it is way, way harder to get citizenship for most European or South American immigrants than it is for Cubans in any era. It's even easier than for Mexican nationals. But it can be done within 3 years or so. So I very much admire her parents and many others who took the route legally and with high held heads all the way. So I have huge memory of comparisons. And yet I enjoyed her English/Spanish dual abilities to a 4.5 star level. That was an essential key to all the moves in location and in upward economics. Using BOTh in excellence and practice.
This will most probably be more interesting to read for those who didn't live through these crisis times or were not aware and adult during the boat lifts. Photos are in all cases at least 4.5 stars despite some of them being blurry.
September 1, 2026
Round up to 4.5 stars. A wonderful memoir about a family who went through so much in Cuba and the United States. I don’t know much about Cuba during the Castro era, so I learned a lot. The book was very well-researched and I enjoyed all of the letters that were included. I highly recommend the audiobook.
November 2, 2026
A beautiful and—at times heartbreaking—memoir of a woman brought to the US from Cuba as a baby, experiencing her culture through her mother's stories, songs, and food. Her accomplishments stand in opposition to that of her older brother Poly, who was left behind at the age of 9, their mother unable to secure his father's permission to leave. Throughout, the reader—and the author—is left wondering what would have happened had they stayed in Cuba. Would Poly's life trajectory have been improved? What would have happened to Ada's future then?
I really enjoyed this peek at the history of a small island through a micro-history of one (large) family, though I have to wonder what her brother thought when he read it. Did she have the right to air his dirty laundry since she basically had nothing but successes? Something to think about.
Thanks to Scribner for the ARC!
I really enjoyed this peek at the history of a small island through a micro-history of one (large) family, though I have to wonder what her brother thought when he read it. Did she have the right to air his dirty laundry since she basically had nothing but successes? Something to think about.
Thanks to Scribner for the ARC!
October 10, 2026
Really well written book by a Cuban historian about her own family history and the impact immigration can have on a family. Highly recommend!
June 14, 2026
I listened to the audiobook. Ferrer’s family immigration story is both moving and profound. She does a superb job of situating her family’s experience of immigrating from Cuba within the larger historical context. She’s a fantastic reader.
August 6, 2026
I never rate a memoir less than 4 but this was a rough one to stay in. Slow going
October 31, 2026
Words are no use when it comes to books that resonate so much. Ada’s family and my own had much different stories, but there are so many things that are unanimous in immigrant families. Displacement cuts lineages in such horrendous ways and I cried at several different points in this story. Vulnerably, I’m crying now writing this review. The eagerness to uncover all that was lost is something I relate to deeply. Despite knowing it is mostly impossible, the hunger to find more doesn’t go away. Its heartening to hear the beginnings of Ada’s life as a historian focusing on her culture. It all starts with a child trying to be close to something they never knew. And it’s the reminder we all need to record the voices of the people we love, save their handwriting, and remember their stories.
September 19, 2026
This is a special book. The author writes of her family’s personal experience with immigration from Cuba. She also teaches you so much about the country of Cuba-its beauty and its disturbing history. She tells the good and bad of her family and their unique experiences. Well researched and told with love. I hope to see this author speak at a book festival in my town next month. Recommend.
September 7, 2026
This is a moving memoir of a Cuban immigrant daughter. She told their life stories warts and all. The history of Cuba Is woven into their family's history.
September 6, 2026
This is one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking books I have ever read. This author’s family left Cuba when she was a baby as political refugees in the US when Castro Came to power. She ended up studying Cuban history, becoming a proud US citizen and history professor, and recently wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning history on Cuba.
This is also a history of the country, told through her family history and the older half brother they left behind. I currently have twin boys the age of little Polito when they left him behind. (Thus my comments on IG of sobbing many times halfway through the book.)
Family separation of all kinds is tragedy, and it is not only communist revolutions that cause it. The hubris and egos of men destroying lives in their wake. My heart aches. Also: the author is brilliant w wordcraft. 100/10 stars.
PS she reads the audiobook. Making it even more personal.
This is also a history of the country, told through her family history and the older half brother they left behind. I currently have twin boys the age of little Polito when they left him behind. (Thus my comments on IG of sobbing many times halfway through the book.)
Family separation of all kinds is tragedy, and it is not only communist revolutions that cause it. The hubris and egos of men destroying lives in their wake. My heart aches. Also: the author is brilliant w wordcraft. 100/10 stars.
PS she reads the audiobook. Making it even more personal.
October 31, 2026
⭐ 1.5/5
Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter by Ada Ferrer.
Listened to this one on audiobook.
Although described as a memoir, it felt much more like a historical record. Written by a historian, and very much in the style you’d expect from one. It spanned over 70 years and four generations of the author’s family.
There’s clearly a huge amount of research behind this book, with details of dozens of individuals pieced together through government documents and family history. It was emotional at times, but I found the sheer volume of detail made it feel quite factual and dry in places.
I appreciate the importance of the story being told, but unfortunately the writing style just didn’t work for me. I suspect I’ll be in the minority with this review!
Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter by Ada Ferrer.
Listened to this one on audiobook.
Although described as a memoir, it felt much more like a historical record. Written by a historian, and very much in the style you’d expect from one. It spanned over 70 years and four generations of the author’s family.
There’s clearly a huge amount of research behind this book, with details of dozens of individuals pieced together through government documents and family history. It was emotional at times, but I found the sheer volume of detail made it feel quite factual and dry in places.
I appreciate the importance of the story being told, but unfortunately the writing style just didn’t work for me. I suspect I’ll be in the minority with this review!
October 18, 2026
I found Ada Ferrer’s narration and exploration of the past humble and truthful, yet filled with that realism only a historian can convey. Drifting between emotions of acceptance, anger and guilt, her story is full of humanity and curiosity. I was deeply moved by the story of her family and of Cuba, and even though I found it hard to empathise with Poly during his adulthood, her framing finally made me see that he was also that abandoned little boy who never felt loved. Wonderful memoir!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2026
A personal account of the author’s family and their immigration from Cuba to the U.S. Sometimes dry for such a captivating story and history but well worth reading.
October 31, 2026
Hard read, learned a lot, Ferrer is very smart
November 2, 2026
I want to visit Cuba after listening to this book!
June 2, 2026
Loved this book. I remember a visit with my grandmother. It was spur of the moment while driving back from the east coast , coming back from college. My grandmother brought out her saved photos and memorabilia of her past. My great grandmother had come here from Germany as an indentured servant at the age of 17. Twice she had taken her daughter back to Germany to visit family but the connection had been lost during the war and afterwards the Cold War and the iron curtain separating them forever.
This was such a wonderful book about the lives of families , decisions that are made, routes in life that forever make changes that can’t be reversed but keep us always wondering what if I did things differently.
This was such a wonderful book about the lives of families , decisions that are made, routes in life that forever make changes that can’t be reversed but keep us always wondering what if I did things differently.
May 27, 2026
Now this…this was a memoir! 100/10 stars. One of the my favorite parts of “Cuba: An American History” was the inclusion of Ada’s stories from her family. When I found out she was writing a memoir, I was thrilled! You truly feel every emotion with this one. A complicated tale, the evolution of seeing your parents as heroes then as people and how decisions can impact lives. Ada is a terrific author, this was well organized and impactful. A truly great memoir leaves you a little sad you didn’t get to learn more about people who didn’t make history, which is exactly how I feel. I’d recommend reading her previous work before this one so you can understand the historical context.
September 20, 2026
Keeper oif My Kin is a heartbreaking account of a divorced mother of two who has an opportunity to leave Cuba during the 60s but whose ex won't agree to allowing her to get a visa for their son. Mom is conflicted and sees an opportunity to flee with both her son and daughter but in the last moments fears the consequences for her and her two children if she is caught. In the end she decides to take the safe route for her daughter"s sake and leaves Cuba without her son's knowledge who is left under the care of his loving grandmother and aunt. But Poly is emotionally destroyed by the abandonment of his mother which keeps him on a collision course with his tragic fate.
This family endures one misstep after another due to a father"s vindictive refusal to sign visa papers to allow for a better future for his son.
The description of life under communism in Cuba is impossible for Americans to believe.
This family endures one misstep after another due to a father"s vindictive refusal to sign visa papers to allow for a better future for his son.
The description of life under communism in Cuba is impossible for Americans to believe.
June 8, 2026
Got 100 pages in but it just didn’t draw me in. I tried. Really I did. I love memoirs and excitedly started this one, especially with the abundance of glowing reviews, but I kept forcing myself to read it, rather than yearning to do so.
September 23, 2026
I loved this book!!!
July 20, 2026
Keeper of My Kin is a beautiful memoir by the child of an immigrant writing about her family's experience leaving Cuba and the impact it had on her family. In particular, Ferrer's mother had a son from a prior marriage who she had to leave behind due to his father remaining in Cuba. Ferrer is able to discuss so much of the experiences that were not hers due to the collection of letters left behind. This was a heartbreaking memoir, and I really enjoyed it.
Thank you to Scribner and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Scribner and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 3, 2026
A really, really unique approach to the family memoir. The world needs historians. ❤️
July 26, 2026
Ada Ferrar has an amazing life story. She was born in Cuba in 1962 and immigrated to the US with her mother in 1963 when she was 10 months old. Her father had immigrated to the U.S ahead of them. She has lived an incredible life, despite her very humble beginnings. Her immigrant parents struggled a great deal financially, yet she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College, a Master’s degree from University of Texas at Austin and a PhD from University of Michigan. She is currently a Professor of History and Latin American Studies at Princeton University. She is truly an inspiration.
In 1959 Fidel Castro seized control of Cuba. It quickly became apparent that the Cuban people had gone from bad situation (under Batista) to much worse. When Ada Ferrer’s mom decided to follow her husband to Miami in 1963 (he had gone ahead to Miami in 1962 while she was pregnant with Ada), she wanted to take her infant daughter Ada and her son Poly (from her first marriage) who was 9 years old at the time. Her ex-husband absolutely refused to allow her to take his son Poly, so he remained in Cuba with his grandmother while Ada went to the US with her mom. Many who left Cuba were convinced they would return to their families in time after Fidel Castro was no longer in power. Little did they know that Castro would remain in power for almost 50 years.
I LOVED this book. The family relationships and the heartaches that Ada Ferrer and her family endured after she and her parents left Cuba really tugged at my heart.
This is a memoir that illustrates the love of family, the heartache that family separation can cause, dealing with mental illness among family members, sibling resentment, incredible achievement, failure, frustration, and love for one’s home country, even though the living conditions in that country are extremely poor.
Towards the end of the book, Ada Ferrar writes about her half-brother Juan Jose’s daughter leaving Cuba for the US in 2024. “Amalia made the excruciating decision that so many from around the world feel forced to make every day: to leave the people they love most in the world and launch themselves into a future that is as uncertain as the one back home feels hopeless.”
This is the second book I’ve read by Ada Ferrer. The first was “Cuba: An American History” which won the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2022. If you want to understand how communists can manipulate the public and take over a country, I highly recommend this book as well.
In 1959 Fidel Castro seized control of Cuba. It quickly became apparent that the Cuban people had gone from bad situation (under Batista) to much worse. When Ada Ferrer’s mom decided to follow her husband to Miami in 1963 (he had gone ahead to Miami in 1962 while she was pregnant with Ada), she wanted to take her infant daughter Ada and her son Poly (from her first marriage) who was 9 years old at the time. Her ex-husband absolutely refused to allow her to take his son Poly, so he remained in Cuba with his grandmother while Ada went to the US with her mom. Many who left Cuba were convinced they would return to their families in time after Fidel Castro was no longer in power. Little did they know that Castro would remain in power for almost 50 years.
I LOVED this book. The family relationships and the heartaches that Ada Ferrer and her family endured after she and her parents left Cuba really tugged at my heart.
This is a memoir that illustrates the love of family, the heartache that family separation can cause, dealing with mental illness among family members, sibling resentment, incredible achievement, failure, frustration, and love for one’s home country, even though the living conditions in that country are extremely poor.
Towards the end of the book, Ada Ferrar writes about her half-brother Juan Jose’s daughter leaving Cuba for the US in 2024. “Amalia made the excruciating decision that so many from around the world feel forced to make every day: to leave the people they love most in the world and launch themselves into a future that is as uncertain as the one back home feels hopeless.”
This is the second book I’ve read by Ada Ferrer. The first was “Cuba: An American History” which won the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2022. If you want to understand how communists can manipulate the public and take over a country, I highly recommend this book as well.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
Thank you to Scribner Books for the gifted ARC of Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter by Ada Ferrer.
This one hit in a quiet but heavy way. It’s not loud or dramatic in the typical sense, but the emotional weight just kind of… sits with you. The core of the story, that impossible choice between children, sets the tone for everything that follows, and honestly, it’s hard to shake.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ferrer weaves together history, memory, and identity in a way that feels really intimate, especially when the focus is on Poly. Those sections felt the most alive to me, like the emotional anchor of the whole memoir. There’s also this underlying tension of trying to piece together a past that isn’t fully accessible, which adds a layer of uncertainty that I actually found pretty compelling, even if it didn’t always land perfectly.
What I Loved
• The emotional core of the story, especially the impossible choice that drives everything
• Poly’s storyline, which felt the most vivid and engaging
• The exploration of identity between Cuba and the United States
• The way history and personal narrative were woven together
• The overall sense of humanity and compassion throughout
What Didn’t Work for Me
• Some sections felt more speculative, which made it harder to stay fully invested
• The narrative pacing dipped a bit when moving away from Poly’s perspective
• A few moments felt slightly distant, likely due to gaps in historical record
Overall, this felt like a thoughtful and layered memoir about family, separation, and the stories we inherit and try to understand. It’s one of those books that quietly lingers after you finish, especially in the questions it raises about truth, memory, and belonging.
This one hit in a quiet but heavy way. It’s not loud or dramatic in the typical sense, but the emotional weight just kind of… sits with you. The core of the story, that impossible choice between children, sets the tone for everything that follows, and honestly, it’s hard to shake.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ferrer weaves together history, memory, and identity in a way that feels really intimate, especially when the focus is on Poly. Those sections felt the most alive to me, like the emotional anchor of the whole memoir. There’s also this underlying tension of trying to piece together a past that isn’t fully accessible, which adds a layer of uncertainty that I actually found pretty compelling, even if it didn’t always land perfectly.
What I Loved
• The emotional core of the story, especially the impossible choice that drives everything
• Poly’s storyline, which felt the most vivid and engaging
• The exploration of identity between Cuba and the United States
• The way history and personal narrative were woven together
• The overall sense of humanity and compassion throughout
What Didn’t Work for Me
• Some sections felt more speculative, which made it harder to stay fully invested
• The narrative pacing dipped a bit when moving away from Poly’s perspective
• A few moments felt slightly distant, likely due to gaps in historical record
Overall, this felt like a thoughtful and layered memoir about family, separation, and the stories we inherit and try to understand. It’s one of those books that quietly lingers after you finish, especially in the questions it raises about truth, memory, and belonging.
October 31, 2026
A beautifully written and deeply moving memoir from Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ada Ferrer, tracing her family’s history from its roots in the slave trade through pre- and post-revolutionary Cuba to their eventual emigration to the United States.
What makes this memoir so compelling is the way Ferrer weaves the broader history of Cuba into the deeply personal experiences of her family. At its heart is her mother’s heartbreaking decision to leave her young son behind when his father refuses permission for him to emigrate with them. It’s an impossible choice, made in pursuit of a better life, but one whose consequences ripple through the family for decades.
The eventual reunion is far from the happy ending one might hope for. The trauma of her brother’s childhood separation has a profound and lasting impact, not only on him but on everyone around him. I found his story particularly heartbreaking.
More than anything, this memoir left me thinking about the sacrifices people make in search of a better future, and the emotional cost of decisions made in circumstances where there are no good options. It’s a story of family, displacement, inherited trauma and the complicated meaning of home.
Beautifully researched, sensitively told and incredibly sad. A memoir that will stay with me.
What makes this memoir so compelling is the way Ferrer weaves the broader history of Cuba into the deeply personal experiences of her family. At its heart is her mother’s heartbreaking decision to leave her young son behind when his father refuses permission for him to emigrate with them. It’s an impossible choice, made in pursuit of a better life, but one whose consequences ripple through the family for decades.
The eventual reunion is far from the happy ending one might hope for. The trauma of her brother’s childhood separation has a profound and lasting impact, not only on him but on everyone around him. I found his story particularly heartbreaking.
More than anything, this memoir left me thinking about the sacrifices people make in search of a better future, and the emotional cost of decisions made in circumstances where there are no good options. It’s a story of family, displacement, inherited trauma and the complicated meaning of home.
Beautifully researched, sensitively told and incredibly sad. A memoir that will stay with me.
September 23, 2026
After the masterpiece that was Cuba: An American History, I did not know how Ada Ferrer was going to get any better. Then her memoir, KEEPER OF MY KIN, was released.
Oh, what a beautiful memoir this is. While the impact and presence of historical events in Cuba and the US are present here, KEEPER focuses on depth rather than breadth. Through letters, conversations, and research trips to Cuba, Ferrer traces her own family’s history, in particular the devastating, life-altering impact that her mother was forced to make, of leaving behind her first-born son (Ada’s half-brother) and taking only 10-month-old Ada when they left for the US.
The most important emotional arc of KEEPER has to be what happens to Poly, the son who gets left behind in Cuba. Unable to reunite for decades, Poly subsists on frequent letters to and from his mother and sister in the US, and the presents sent by a mother who was so conflicted over her inability to take him to the US that, on her deathbed, she continues to wonder if she’d make the same decision again if she had a choice. Separated from his mother, Poly struggles to come into his own as a man, and has trouble holding down jobs, maintaining relationships, and keeping abreast of the law. Reading his storyline filled me with anguish, rage, judgment, and compassion… and even more so when the discovery of another, secret half-brother in Cuba—one who is the polar opposite of Poly—rocks the Ferrers’ lives. It was so well done.
Ferrer’s writing is gorgeous, emotionally resonant without veering into melodrama or being too bogged down in historical details. Definitely going to be one of the top memoirs I’ve read this year.
Oh, what a beautiful memoir this is. While the impact and presence of historical events in Cuba and the US are present here, KEEPER focuses on depth rather than breadth. Through letters, conversations, and research trips to Cuba, Ferrer traces her own family’s history, in particular the devastating, life-altering impact that her mother was forced to make, of leaving behind her first-born son (Ada’s half-brother) and taking only 10-month-old Ada when they left for the US.
The most important emotional arc of KEEPER has to be what happens to Poly, the son who gets left behind in Cuba. Unable to reunite for decades, Poly subsists on frequent letters to and from his mother and sister in the US, and the presents sent by a mother who was so conflicted over her inability to take him to the US that, on her deathbed, she continues to wonder if she’d make the same decision again if she had a choice. Separated from his mother, Poly struggles to come into his own as a man, and has trouble holding down jobs, maintaining relationships, and keeping abreast of the law. Reading his storyline filled me with anguish, rage, judgment, and compassion… and even more so when the discovery of another, secret half-brother in Cuba—one who is the polar opposite of Poly—rocks the Ferrers’ lives. It was so well done.
Ferrer’s writing is gorgeous, emotionally resonant without veering into melodrama or being too bogged down in historical details. Definitely going to be one of the top memoirs I’ve read this year.
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