| What We Were Promised Contributor(s): Tan, Lucy (Author) |
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ISBN: 1549144685 ISBN-13: 9781549144684 Publisher: Hachette Book Group OUR PRICE: $31.50 Product Type: Compact Disc - Other Formats Published: July 2018 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Asian American - Fiction | Women - Fiction | Cultural Heritage |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 5.8" W x 5.6" (0.5 lbs) |
| Themes: - Sex & Gender - Feminine - Topical - Family |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Set in modern Shanghai, a debut by a Chinese-American writer about a prodigal son whose unexpected return forces his newly wealthy family to confront painful secrets and unfulfilled promises. After years of chasing the American dream, the Zhen family has moved back to China. Settling into a luxurious serviced apartment in Shanghai, Wei, Lina and their daughter, Karen, join an elite community of Chinese-born, Western-educated professionals who have returned to a radically transformed city. One morning, in the eighth tower of Lanson Suites, Lina discovers that a childhood keepsake, an ivory bracelet, has gone missing.The incident contributes to a wave of unease that has begun to settle throughout the Zhen household. Wei, a marketing strategist, bows under the guilt of not having engaged in nobler work. Meanwhile, Lina, lonely in her new life of leisure, assumes the modern moniker tai tai-a housewife who does no housework at all. She spends her days haunted by the circumstances surrounding her arranged marriage to Wei and her lingering feelings for his brother, Qiang. Lina and Wei take pains to hide their anxieties, but their housekeeper, Sunny, a hardworking woman with secrets of her own, bears witness to their struggles. When Qiang reappears in Shanghai after decades on the run with a local gang, the family must finally come to terms with the past.From a silk-producing village in rural China, up the corporate ladder in suburban America, and back again to the post-Maoist nouveau riche of modern Shanghai, What We Were Promised explores the question of what we owe to our country, our families and ourselves. |
Contributor Bio(s): Tan, Lucy: - Lucy Tan grew up in New Jersey and has spent much of her adult life in New York and Shanghai. She received her BA from New York University and her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was awarded the 2016 August Derleth Prize. Her fiction has been published in journals such as Asia Literary Review and Ploughshares, where she was winner of the 2015 Emerging Writer's Contest. |