When the world changes you.
Identity, migration, belonging, and the person you become when the life you built no longer fits the person you are.
If your life changed faster than you did, there are books and essays here for you.
“Jessica Gabrielzyk writes with sensitivity, emotional intelligence and a great deal, truly a great deal, of authenticity.” — Dr. Débora Pasin, Linguist and PhD Researcher
Customer Rating on Goodreads: ★★★★★
Amazon Brasil #1 Bestseller in Emigration, July 2026
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Books read in 17+ countries
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SIETAR member
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Amazon Brasil #1 Bestseller in Emigration, July 2026 ❋ Books read in 17+ countries ❋ SIETAR member ❋
BOOKS
Find the book that fits where you are.
Parenting Unpacked
You can love your child, be grateful for your life abroad and still wonder where the person you used to be has gone.
You can manage the school forms, the doctor visits and the language, and still not feel like yourself. Parenting Unpacked explains why, one situation at a time, from the decision to leave to the choice to stay.
If you have ever wondered why you can handle the practical side of life abroad and still feel unlike yourself, this book is for you.
Start with the question most readers recognise first: “Why don’t I feel like me, even though nothing’s ‘wrong’?”
“While much has been written about the impact of global mobility on children, Jessica invites us into a deeper look at what this experience is like for the adults who raise them.” - Ruth E. Van Reken co-authored Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds
Maternity Abroad
Your appointment is in a language you are still learning, and nobody has explained the rules.
Maternity Abroad grew out of the stories of immigrant mothers-to-be: the disorientation of becoming a mother where the systems, the people and the expectations do not work the way you assumed. If you are pregnant abroad, or looking back on how you became a mother there, these are the stories of women who did it.
“Maternity Abroad is an incredible resource, not just for information and practical support, but most importantly, for comfort.” - Review on Goodreads
My First American Coloring Book
What does everyday life in the United States look like to a young child?
This coloring book introduces children to familiar places, objects and experiences through a simple activity they can enjoy with an adult or on their own.
“Absolutely charming and creative" — Adriana Benfica, Children’s Book Author
Marked
A dystopian novel in development.
In Marked, an institutional record decides who a woman is allowed to be, and she has no way to appeal it. It is a speculative novel about identity, institutional power and what happens when the records that define a person count for more than the person herself.
The novel is being built in public through the Marked Research Series.
START WITH YOUR STORY
What brought you here?
I am raising a child far from home.
Raising a child abroad changes how you parent and how you see yourself.
[ READ THE PARENTING ESSAYS ]
I am curious about Brazilian identity and belonging.
Who gets to be Brazilian? Who feels welcomed? What do we carry with us when we leave, and what happens to our sense of identity when we live elsewhere?
[ READ THE BRAZILIAN IDENTITY ESSAYS ]
I want a story about who gets to decide who belongs.
In Marked, a woman’s existence challenges a system that insists every person must fit a category.
[ FOLLOW MARKED ]
THE IDEAS BEHIND THE BOOKS
What happens when the world changes you?
Moving countries, becoming a parent or entering a life you never expected can change how you understand yourself.
Identity migration means moving to a new version of yourself while still being graded on the old one.
I write about the questions that come up when the life around us changes faster than our understanding of who we are.
ESSAYS
Read something before you buy a book.
Personal essays on identity, migration, parenthood and belonging. Each one starts with something that happened to me, or with a question I could not answer.
NEWSLETTER
Get the next essay in your inbox.
New writing on identity, migration, parenthood and belonging. No fixed publishing schedule, only an email when there is something new to share.
ABOUT
About Jessica Gabrielzyk
I am a Brazilian writer living in Switzerland. My work explores what happens to identity when life changes around us, through migration, parenthood, intercultural experiences and fiction.
I have lived in Brazil, Australia, Portugal, Ireland and Switzerland. My experiences across countries and cultures shape the questions I bring to my books and essays.
I presented at SIETAR Brasil 2026.
My ritual for Marked used beet juice, and it may not last. I asked an AI for a better recipe, and now I am asking a human who can check it.