At just eight years old, Manuel V. Sardinas boarded a plane in Havana—alone. It was 1961, and Operation Peter Pan was in full swing. This secretive mass exodus sent thousands of Cuban children to the United States, often without their parents, in a desperate attempt to shield them from the Castro regime. What followed for Manuel was a lifelong journey of adaptation, loss, discovery, and identity. Not Just an Immigrant is a deeply personal memoir that transcends one man’s story. It is a testament to the millions who leave everything behind in search of freedom—and to the resilience it takes to not only survive, but to build a life from the fractured pieces of exile. From makeshift foster homes to building a family of his own, from childhood trauma to hard-won perspective, Sardinas explores what it means to live between cultures, between languages, and between past and present. At once intimate and universal, Not Just an Immigrant invites readers to reflect on their own roots, reckon with the meaning of home, and explore the depth and complexity of the immigrant experience.