The Scent of the Gods by Fiona Cheong [in What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature]
Eleven-year-old Esha comes of age in Singapore of the late 1960s, a time of growing political strife between the predominantly Chinese government and the local Singaporeans and their supporters. Esha’s...
The story of a group of young, idealistic friends in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in 1945. Caught between an ancient culture overwhelmed by Western colonialism, each of the friends must try and find his...
A deft coming-of-age first novel about young Lovey Nariyoshi of Hilo, Hawai'i, trying to forge her identity amidst the mish-mash of Japanese American roots, coveted Barbie dolls, and...
The author returns to her ancestral homeland, guided by the stories her father – her "Baba" – has told her. There she begins a personal odyssey through northern China of the 1930s and ‘40s, following the...
A collection of interrelated short stories that begins in 1953 Macao, where a sickly Wei lives with his overprotective grandmother and ineffective father. Wei eventually emigrates to Honolulu, gets married, and has two children,...
At 14, fourth-generation Chinese American Rainsford Chan is orphaned. Alone and searching, he recreates his family’s 125-year-long history in the U.S., wandering among his male ancestors, learning their stories and experiencing their lives. But even after...
Mahi Wong grows up in post-World War II Hawai'i, surrounded by a large and complicated family of parents, siblings, and endless uncles and aunties. She is immersed in...
At age 6, Olivia meets for the first time, her adult half-sister Kwan, just arrived from China. Kwan shares with a disbelieving Olivia her stories of the Yin people – people not...
Helen and Winnie share a past that spans over 50 years and two continents, filled with hidden secrets. Now Helen thinks she’s dying, and feels she must tell all. Winnie realizes she...
Since 1949, four Chinese-born women, now living in San Francisco, gather regularly to play mah-jong and share their lives. Together they make up the Joy Luck Club. They share stories of the...
Arjie, a young boy growing up in an upper-middle-class family in Sri Lanka, is "funny" – he prefers to dress in saris and play with the girls. He comes of age amidst a time...
A collection of short stories, some interrelated, about the experiences of young Filipino American men living displaced lives, caught between their emotional ties to their families back in the Philippines, and their...
In 1929, Bhusan Singh, the aimless son of a wealthy raja, is on a train headed for his family home when he is arrested, falsely charged with treason, and imprisoned. Efforts to free him...
Haunting stories, again mostly about the residents of Lunalilo, Hawai'i, including a lonely spinster, a deserted husband, and a young woman desperate for stardom. Other stories explore the interaction between Lunalilo residents...
Eleven interrelated short stories about young Seaweed, a determined young woman in China during the Cultural Revolution in search of higher education. She endures "reeducation" at a remote village labor camp, gets herself into...
Hoping she will get over her latest romance, Karen’s parents send her to spend her 15th summer with her unusual, eccentric Aunt Augusta. There in her new environment, Karen makes new friends, finds new...
Middle daughter Ona unexpectedly commits suicide, leaving the other Leong family members to try and figure out why. The suicide acts as a pivotal point from which two very different Chinese American generations of parents and...
A delightful novel that follows immigrant graduate student Gita through her bumpy search for her ideal mate. In Chaitra 2040 – that is, March 1984 for the rest...
The acclaimed winner of the 1988
A follow-up to the seminal