Asian-Pacific American Authors

From literary award-winners to popular best-sellers, readers unfamiliar with Asian-Pacific American novelists will enjoy these selections available from the Lititz Public Library.

The Empress of Bright MoonThe Empress of Bright Moon by Weina Dai Randel
A power struggle ensues when the Emperor’s unpredictable chief wife takes a dislike to a young concubine.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
A sixteen-year-old girl decides there is only one escape from her loneliness, but before she ends it all, she plans to document the life of her great grandmother.

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
An embittered, retired judge, living in an isolated house in the Himalayas, finds his peaceful life upset when his orphaned granddaughter arrives on his doorstep.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
After their arranged wedding, a couple leaves Calcutta and settles in Massachusetts, where their son stumbles along a first-generation path of conflicting loyalties.

Please Look after MomPlease Look after Mom by Kyung-sook Shin
As a family attempts to find the mother who went missing from Seoul subway station, their sobering memories suggest she may not have been happy.

The Fortunes by Peter Ho Davies
Over a century of history is recast through the lives of a railroad baron’s valet, Hollywood’s first Chinese movie star, a hate-crime victim whose death mobilizes Asian Americans and a biracial writer visiting China for an adoption.

Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee
An immigrant, who has spent his entire life trying to become a true American, faces a test of personal identity when he is assigned to spy on a rising Korean-American politician.

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
In early 20th century San Francisco, the lives of six Japanese mail-order brides are marked by backbreaking migrant work, cultural struggles, children who reject their heritage and the prospect of wartime internment.

Snow HuntersSnow Hunters by Paul Yoon
A man defects from his country at the end of the Korean War leaving his friends and family behind to seek a new life on the coast of Brazil.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The story of a group of former university classmates centers on a talented lawyer who is increasingly haunted by an unspeakable childhood trauma.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
When their favorite child’s body is found in a lake, the balancing act that keeps a Chinese-American together is broken.

The Last Empress by Anchee Min
In the last decades of the 19th century, as China was marked by foreign incursions and domestic rebellion, the only constant was the resilient Empress Tzu Hsi, who ruled for more than forty years.

The Sleepwalker's Guide to DancingThe Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob
A brain surgeon’s decision to shorten his visit to his mother’s home in India has consequences that reverberate two decades later.

Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The close kinship between two Calcutta cousins is threatened by suspicions and a dark family secret.

China Dolls by Lisa See
Three young women navigate America’s extravagant all-Asian musical revues of the 1930s and 1940s.

The Story Hour : A NovelThe Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar
Expectations and painful choices warp the relationship between a psychologist and suicidal young Indian woman.

The Boat Rocker by Ha Jin
In 2005 New York, a Chinese expatriate reporter, who writes explosive articles against Communist officials, takes an assignment to expose his ex-wife, an unscrupulous novelist and pawn of the Chinese government.

September 8, 2017