Foreign Letters

1982. Preteen Ellie Thir and her family have just moved from their native Israel to suburban Connecticut, largely so that Ellie's father would not have to do the mandatory Israeli military service and thus be able to escape the fighting in Lebanon, where her maternal uncle was recently killed in friendly fire. They have to make the adjustment to life in this new country, where some things which many Americans take for granted are very different than what the Thirs are used to. The adjustment is easier for some than for others within the family. Because of her social isolation not knowing English and looking obviously different than the gentiles that largely populate her school, Ellie is in constant Hebrew correspondence with her "best friend in the entire universe times infinity" Shlomit back in Israel as that continued sense of belonging. Eventually, Ellie reaches out to the only other obviously isolated person in her class, ethnic Vietnamese Thuy Le, who has been in the United States for two years, who has integrated herself as far as being proficient in English and knowing about American culture, and who, like Ellie, left her homeland with her family due to the ravages of the war in Vietnam. Despite Thuy's initial standoffish behavior toward Ellie, they do eventually become best friends. But Ellie will learn that Thuy's life isn't everything that she says that it is and that her isolation is partly self-imposed, those continued secrets which may tear their friendship apart as Ellie tries to assimilate into all that surrounds her in this, her new life.