The Arrogant Years

“[Lagnado writes] in crystalline yet melodious prose.”

—New York Times

Lucette Lagnado’s acclaimed, award-winning The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit (“[a] crushing, brilliant book” —New York Times Book Review) told the powerfully moving story of her Jewish family’s exile from Egypt. In her extraordinary follow-up memoir, The Arrogant Years, Lagnado revisits her first years in America, and describes a difficult coming-of-age tragically interrupted by a bout with cancer at age 16. At once a poignant mother and daughter story and a magnificent snapshot of the turbulent ’60s and ’70s, The Arrogant Years is a stunning work of memory and resilience that ranges from Cairo to Brooklyn and beyond—the unforgettable true story of a remarkable young woman’s determination to push past the boundaries of her life and make her way in the wider world.

From the sun-drenched alleyways of Cairo to the working-class streets of 1960s Brooklyn, a young girl must forge a new identity—and find the strength to survive the unthinkable.

A Brooklyn Coming of Age: Navigating the turbulent culture of 1960s and ’70s New York, from the strict rules of her immigrant synagogue to the bewildering freedoms of a new world. The Bonds of Family: A poignant portrait of a daughter trying to break free and a mother haunted by the world they left behind in Egypt. A Test of Resilience: After a life-altering cancer diagnosis at sixteen, a young woman must fight not just for her health, but for the future she was determined to claim as her own. Finding a New Identity: An unforgettable personal journey about what it means to be an outsider, the search for a place to belong, and the power of memory.