How Does 'Brooklyn' Portray The Immigrant Experience?

At the Colonetti family banquet in New York, I stood in the center of the grand hall with more than a dozen girls from different families, all of us waiting to be chosen. Victor, the heir of the Colonetti family, was supposed to announce his fiancée tonight. Along with that announcement, he would present her with the family heirloom, a lily brooch. As an illegitimate daughter of the family, I understood that if I didn’t receive that brooch tonight, it meant I would be sent to Chicago for an arranged marriage. Victor, who had once promised to marry me, changed his mind without warning. With a smile, he pinned the lily brooch onto the chest of the woman standing beside me instead. Then, he leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Let your sister Emily have her moment today. She’s also an illegitimate daughter like you, and she’s also never been valued growing up. Don’t worry. With me here, no one will force you into an arranged marriage.” Even as I looked at him with pleading eyes, he reached out and let Emily take his arm. “Emily is kind and gracious,” he said. “She deserves the lily brooch.” Those words—kind and gracious—turned me into the joke of the entire evening. The next day, I boarded a flight to Chicago alone, but Victor panicked. He used every connection he had and managed to ground every flight heading to Chicago.

Isabella was born in the mafia, but she wasn’t born of royalty. All she knew was pain and ran away from a life of chaos and destruction before it could kill her. Now, she’s older and a defense attorney living in New York City. All was going well until she received a letter from the one person who has always looked out for her. She was getting married and wanted Isabella to come home and witness her union. Isabella wanted to refuse, but she knew she had to do it. Now that she’s back home, she’s thrusted back into the flames of Mafia life. A certain man has his eyes on her and won’t let her leave. What will happen when Isabella learns that the very man who sets her body ablaze, is a man who runs the same Mafia she’s running from? This is a story about finding love in all the wrong places, and how forgiving the past can open you up to a beautiful future.

Happily ever after are for the normal people. But not for Nadia. Being an immigrant living in the United States makes things harder. It's even worse after she is kidnapped from her home by a fake immigration agent. Forced into a world of sex trafficking and abuse and now a forced marriage. She struggles to try to find her balance of how to get out of it. But trying to protect her son from the dangers of gang violence and herself after starting an affair with her husband's cousin. Things get complicated. But her heart is pulled in different directions.

Isabella Millers is an ordinary girl who works as a waitress in a café. However, her life takes a drastic turn when a luxurious sedan owned by a cruel mafia leader in Brooklyn named Marco Vilante crashes into her bicycle on her way home from work. Isabella is forced to be involved in Marco's dangerous life because he falls in love with her and becomes obsessed with her. Pressure and fear haunt Isabella's life ever since. Will she be able to face the consequences of being involved with a cruel and obsessive mafia man?

Maria has always been a survivor, but she's tired of loving in fear. Growing up in poverty and violence, she has learned to keep her head down and try to stay out of the way. But when she meet a mysterious and dangerous man on the street, she realizes that she can't ignore the violence that surrounds her any longer. With the help of her best friend Sophie, Maria decided to take control over her life and leave her abusive father behind. But as she set out on her own, she quickly realizes that the world can be just as dangerous as the one she's leaving behind. Will Maria be able to navigate the challenges of life on her own, or will she fall victim to the dangers that lurk around every corner.

On Victoria’s 20th birthday she receives unsettling news: her father agreed to marry her to one of the most dangerous mafia leaders in the country. She has no say in the matter, there is no escape from this marriage. Her new husband, Dimitri Ivanov, is cruel, cold and controls her every move. Victoria has never been more frightened of anyone in her life, but she is going to have to learn to survive in the world of crime that she is now part of.