Living with Strangers

Healing a Wounded Heart in a Distant Land—A Memoir

by Robin Rosenbluth

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Pub Date Oct 27 2026 | Archive Date Not set

Caitlin Hamilton Marketing & Publicity | for She Writes Press

Biographies & Memoirs | Nonfiction (Adult) | Parenting, Families, Relationships

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Description

A debut memoirist’s hopeful and brave coming-of-age story of surviving a turbulent youth—neglected first by her father, then as a teen in foster care—and going on to find a sense of belonging and a new lease on life in a semi-nomadic Kenyan community.

Eager to leave her life as a foster child behind, Robin Rosenbluth travels to a remote village in northern Kenya called Songa in 1973. As a white college student, she arrives in a desert-like environment to teach elementary school to Samburu and Rendille children. While befriending the residents, she learns to live in a mud hut, survive without modern conveniences, skin a cow, and kill a chicken for dinner.

Robin weaves stories about the challenges she faced growing up—her mother’s early death, her father’s abandonment, and her years in foster care—with her account of her time in Songa. As the only Jewish resident in a village influenced by Christian missionaries, she strives to fit in: adapting to the intense heat, endless insects, and close encounters with wild animals. Over time, she develops close friendships with a local teacher and a woman who becomes her surrogate mother, participates in local customs, and makes a place for herself in Songa.

Offering vivid insight into why a love-starved nineteen-year-old from New York City would choose to relocate to the other side of the world, Living with Strangers is a poignant chronicle of one young woman’s search for a place to belong.

A Note From the Publisher

Robin Rosenbluth is a former foster teen who now advocates for finding permanent homes for older foster youth. She has worked in the nonprofit sector in New York, raising funds for museums, women’s organizations, healthcare, LGBTQ, and environmental causes, and teaches fundraising at New York University. She has studied memoir and the craft of writing with many renowned authors and writes a Substack, My Jagged Journey as a Debut Writer. Robin and her wife have raised two children. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Advance Praise

“She deftly merges the two parts of her life story—her early life and her Kenyan travels—with maturity and levelheaded reflection and urges readers to both sympathize with others and to pay attention to their own emotional needs.An eye-opening and thorough remembrance, related with clarity and care.”—Kirkus Reviews

“. . . a thoughtful memoir about chosen belonging formed through village work in Africa after a childhood of uncertain homes in America.”—Readers’ Favorite, 5-star review

“A beautifully written exploration of connection and belonging. This book is a must-read for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or has experienced the American foster care system.”—Angela Quijada-Banks, author of The Black Foster Youth Handbook

“What truly sets Rosenbluth’s story apart is her year in Kenya at nineteen, living with semi-nomadic tribes and teaching school. Her courage to embrace a new culture while searching for belonging is both surprising and inspiring.”—David Ambroz, author of A Place Called Home

“Rosenbluth shares her compelling journey of resilience and triumph with such heartbreaking and inspiring honesty that it leaves you laughing, shaking your head in disbelief, and crying—all while holding on to hope that she will prevail against all odds.”—Ta’Nika Gibson, actress and adoption advocate

“Robin’s compelling memoir, Living with Strangers, captures her experiences with and appreciation for the people of the Samburu and Rendille tribes in Northern Kenya. She arrived in Kenya with typical teenage anxiety—after struggling to find acceptance from her foster family—and learned to embrace local traditions and culture, as she searched for a place to belong.”—Bill Ulfelder, executive director of the New York Nature Conservancy

“Weaving her stories as a survivor of the United States’s broken child welfare system and her year in Kenya at nineteen, Robin’s book is a deeply impactful illustration of how leaning into one’s vulnerability can lead to enlightenment and belonging.”—Jennifer Pinder, executive director of You Gotta Believe

Available Editions

EDITION	Paperback
ISBN	9798896361886
PRICE	$18.99 (USD)
PAGES	256

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