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

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.