REVIEWS

What would you do if the home of your childhood still exists, but you could never return to it as it was because of a political sea change? Susan Bayless Herrera shares the creation and evolution of North American mining company towns in Chile, the carefully monitored and regulated social protocols for foreign and native workers, and the dual identities that naturally emerged for the North American, British children either born in or arriving in Chile at a young age. This is a riveting story of a “child of copper” who must eventually adapt and function in the culture of her North American parents while leaving behind a beloved Chilean culture that developed her worldview and sense of self.

Dr. Ann Browning Masters, author of Floridanos, Menorcans, Cattle-Whip Crackers: Poetry of St. Augustine.

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Recién recibí tu libro e inmediatamente empecé a leerlo. Voy en la pagina 20 y te digo que para mí es mágico…me siento tan identificada, nostálgica. Está escrito de una belleza increíble. Te felicito. Otra hija del cobre. Carol F. 3/31/22

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I finished this wonderful book yesterday and can heartily recommend it. It is very well written and describes her life in Chile vividly. Having grown up in several foreign countries as the daughter of a Foreign Service officer, I could relate to a lot of her experiences and the attraction of various cultures. A great read! – Janet Bayless 4/5/22

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On Amazon – Caught between two worlds

Susan Herrera describes very poignantly how a person can be torn between two countries, having been rather traumatically ripped away at age 16 from her first loves—from the country of her childhood and from her first romance—and the profound disorientation and shock which this can produce, coloring all of one’s life. Through Susan’s descriptions you can feel and nearly taste what life was like in the towns in Chile in which she was raised. It is hard for me to imagine going away to boarding school at the age of 12, as she did, visiting her family only on weekends and holidays, as this is what the “children of copper” had to do to continue their education past the 6th grade. She describes how the children of copper grew up in a kind of idyllic bubble, unaware of the social hierarchy, stratification and politics surrounding them, until they were ultimately impacted by having to leave their “borrowed” country.

This story would be of interest to any one who has had to negotiate two worlds, feeling a true member of neither one, trying to find their way to a sense of belonging. In addition you learn some history of the American involvement in Chile in the world’s largest copper mine. A well researched book into which the author has poured her heart!

N. Royer 4/11/22

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Imagine living the first 16 years in a ‘utopia’ built on borrowed land. This land nestled 55 miles south of Santiago Chile was fashioned by the Braden Copper Company into ‘company towns’ cultured by expatriates/Chileans in the heart of the Andes Mountains with the sole purpose of mining copper. El Teniente, the largest underground copper mine, needed roads, trains and safety for a successful business and for this the Americans and Chileans were meshed. Many generations of gringos were welcomed in the early 1900’s. In small towns that hung on mountains and rose from valleys, children (the author among them) were raised and protected under the company umbrella, and nurtured, cultured, and educated in both English and Spanish. Knowing little of the outside world in the 50’s and 60’s, Susan describes growing up freely on stairs, atop snow, singing, dancing, and loving Chileans amidst copper. Her landscape, poetically painted, transports you to her town of Rancagua, her people, her culture, her idyllic life in the Andes. Her gentle hand recounts harsh realities, inequities and reveals ‘delicate’ issues as seen through innocent eyes peppered with photographs, poems, and letters. This spell was broken when Chile partnered with the Braden Co. to own its greatest resource. In 1970 the brown soil of her youth was swallowed up as if by a massive volcano…..and her ‘borrowed’ homeland vanished. You feel her heart breaking as this 16y old teenager boards a flight to immigrate back to the US, a foreign land. Negotiating the next 50 years, Susan embraced a lifelong mission, expertly fostered by her parents, of building bridges across cultures. Sewell, one of the deserted company towns, is among the National Monuments and World UNESCO Heritage sites. This book draws you aboard the S.S. Santa Barbara in 1955 for the 21d voyage to Chile. A must read for expatriates/immigrants/exchange students/refugees or anyone who has traversed dramatic relocations, cultural divides, or a loss of identity and home.

By Debora L Kramer Porter, May 24, 2022

A coming-of-age saga of a little American girl who grew up and fell in love in a foreign land she thought of as home, only to see it all end abruptly as political changes overtook her adopted country. A touching and enthralling story and a wonderful read.

Peter Ellis, editor (retired) St. Augustine Record.

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On Amazon – What does ‘my country’ mean to the person growing up as an ‘expatriate’?

For anyone who has grown up as an expatriate or across multiple cultures, this book poetically illustrates the process, the contradictions, the joys and the ambivalence. It makes you think hard about what ‘your country’ actually is, what it means to you, and what it will mean to you for the rest of your life. Peter A. UK 4/8/22

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Susan Bayless Herrera has written a sensitive and touching memoir of her experiences and observations while growing up as an expatriate in a copper mining area in Chile.

She describes an enchanted childhood in a safe and protected town, Rancagua, home of the Braden Copper Company. As an American child and young woman Susan had the great advantage of learning Spanish as well as English and experiencing a culture which has allowed her to become worldly, culturally sensitive and adventurous.

The book is beautifully written, and almost poetic in its descriptions of feelings and places. I enjoyed it tremendously and I recommend it enthusiastically. It is a coming of age story which should be read by those who have lived in a foreign country and whose experiences have impacted their lives. No! It should be read by everyone! D. Sonier 4/12/22

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On Amazon – Si vas para Chile

A beautifully told and expertly written story through the lens of two cultures, and the innocence of youth. For those who know Chile, so many small things will comfortably resonate as the author recounts her childhood in the foothills of the Andes. Amazing detail on the history of copper in Chile told through the lives of those who worked and lived the experience.
A very gifted and talented writer, we can only hope that there is more to come. Brian – Canada 4/14/22

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On Amazon

A culture on the precipice of change and a child who falls off the peak

If one considers the growth and demise of culture, there must be a peak. Sometimes the peak is so subtle one doesn’t notice, more of a soft curve. Other times, there is the drama of revolution. Experience the true-life drama of abrupt change deeper than the move from child to adult, one town to another, one language to another. See how a multitude of simultaneous transitions affect an entire group of young people who topple down a mountain into a foreign world everyone else expects them to call home. The author relays the poignancy of such change with stories of her own childhood overlayed with research and interviews which attest to the authenticity of the experience and the emotions. – Rosalinda Sanquiche United States 4/22/22

On Amazon

From Another Daughter of Copper

This book is a must read if you have ever felt “homeless” despite having all the resources that one could possibly imagine would make a “home”.

There are times in our lives when someone verbalizes what has lived in us; something that we haven’t been able to identify and put words to. I call these times ‘God moments’ – when we receive unexpected miracles out of nowhere. Susan’s book is one of these miracles for me.

I, too, am a Daughter of Copper – although I was born and raised in a different copper town in Chile than Susan’s, her story is my story when she describes “navigating two cultures”, “learning to live without our families in our formative years”, “learning to live life in neatly contained windows”, and that there is “something haunting about the land swallowing one’s soul, one’s home, one’s identity”.

Whether or not you are a Child of Copper, if you are an adult looking for answers as to why an empty space lives in your heart and you keep wandering around looking to fill it, you might find some answers in Susan’s book.

With deep gratitude to you, Susan – for naming and validating the hole in my heart and helping me know that we Children of Copper are not alone in our wandering journey. You helped me find my tribe, finally! Patricia NL 4/20/22