For eight years, journalist Susan Hartman followed three refugees building new lives in the old manufacturing city of Utica, New York:  Sadia, a bright, spirited Somali Bantu teenager who rebels against her formidable mother; Ali, an Iraqi interpreter who creates a home with an American woman but is haunted by war; and Mersiha, a Bosnian baker who gambles everything to open a café.

They are part of a remarkable migration:  Over the past four decades, thousands of refugees—fleeing persecution and war—have revitalized the small upstate city. They were finding their way in a city that needed them.

NEWS & EVENTS

City of Refugees:
Now in paperback!

For eight years, journalist Susan Hartman followed three refugees building new lives in the old manufacturing city of Utica, New York:  Sadia, a bright, spirited Somali Bantu teenager who rebels against her formidable mother; Ali, an Iraqi interpreter who creates a home with an American woman but is haunted by war; and Mersiha, a Bosnian baker who gambles everything to open a café.

They are part of a remarkable migration:  Over the past four decades, thousands of refugees—fleeing persecution and war—have revitalized the small upstate city. They were finding their way in a city that needed them.

NEWS & EVENTS

City of Refugees:

Now in paperback!