when we were strangers: a novel  <p>“the people as real as your own family, and the tale realistic enough to be any american’s.”<br />—nancy e. turner, author of <em>these is my words</em></p><p> </p>a moving, powerful, and evocative debut novel, <em>when we were strangers </em>by pamela schoenewaldt heralds the arrival of superb new voice in american fiction. a tale rich in color, character, and vivid historical detail, it chronicles the tumultuous life journey of a young immigrant seamstress, as she travels from her isolated italian mountain village through the dark corners of late nineteenth century america. a historical novel that readers of geraldine brooks, nancy turner, frances de pontes peebles, and debra dean will most certainly cherish, <em>when we were strangers</em> will live in the mind and the heart long after its last page is turned.