Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Lucky Broken Girl cover art

Lucky Broken Girl

Written by: Ruth Behar
Narrated by: Ruth Behar
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $23.31

Buy Now for $23.31

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative - based on the author's childhood in the 1960s - a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie's plight will intrigue listeners, and her powerful story of strength and resilience, full of color, light, and poignancy, will stay with them for a long time.

Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro's Cuba to New York City. Just when she's finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English - and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood's hopscotch queen - a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined her to her bed for a long recovery. As Ruthie's world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger, and she comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings, and how friends, neighbors, and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times.

©2017 Ruth Behar (P)2017 Listening Library

What the critics say

Lucky Broken Girl takes us into a world that is at once deeply familiar and astonishingly new - the world of young people negotiating English as a second language, of families being forced from their homelands, of bodies learning to move (and not move), and of friendships across cultural divides. But most of all, it is the world of Ruthie, an unforgettable character whom I grew to love and cheer for." (Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming)

“Reading Lucky Broken Girl feels like meeting a courageous new friend who will be with you forever. Ruth Behar succeeds at infusing her tale of heartbreak and suffering with a glorious celebration of forgiveness and hope.” (Margarita Engle, author of The Surrender Tree)

“A powerful story of fortitude and courage that will remain in the hearts of young readers.” (Marjorie Agosín, author of I Lived on Butterfly Hill)

What listeners say about Lucky Broken Girl

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.