11/29/2021
Spanning eight decades, Fu’s poignant debut opens in 1938, as recently widowed Meilin and her three-year-old son, Renshu, flee their home in the Hunan Province of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Initially traveling with relatives to avoid Japanese bombings, Meilin and Renshu get separated from the group. After the war, as Communism takes hold of China in the late 1940s, the mother and son escape to Taiwan, where Meilin works as a maid and Renshu focuses on his education. In 1960, Renshu leaves Taiwan and his mother behind for graduate school at Northwestern University, entering this new chapter as “Henry.” He builds a life in America, starting both a career and family. Meanwhile, Meilin reconnects with her brother-in-law, who tries to woo her into marriage. Fu spends the first half of the novel ping-ponging between mother and son, shuttling them through 20 years of tragic struggle. As their stories diverge, the author devotes long sections to each protagonist, slowing the frenetic pace to focus more on character development, which yields a stronger second half. The result is an affecting if somewhat scattershot tale of love, loss, estrangement, and heritage. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Assoc. (Mar.)
Magical, and powerful, Peach Blossom Spring brings to life the costs of wars and conflicts while illuminating the spirit of human survival. Inspired by her father’s real-life experiences and her determination to comprehend her family’s past, Melissa Fu has gifted us with a timely, moving, and universal novel.”—Nguyen Phan Que Mai, author of The Mountains Sing
"A beautifully rendered meditation on the trials and triumphs of a family torn apart by war, Peach Blossom Spring left me pondering how the stories we choose to pass down have the power not only to define us, but to buoy us—to help us persevere through the most challenging of times.”—Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones
“Expansive, atmospheric, and affecting. Peach Blossom Spring shows just how much the human heart can hold, and it left me breathless.” —Susie Yang, New York Times bestselling author of White Ivy
“I absolutely adored this novel about love and war, migration and belonging. . . . During moments of deep sadness and loss, there is also beauty - the beauty of enduring love, of identity, of hope. Melissa Fu portrays the time, the culture, the place and the struggles of this family so vividly, with nuance and color and life. Her writing is subtle and powerful, it stays with you, it follows you like the smell of the peach blossoms, it evokes emotions and questions and enlightens you. This is such a stunning achievement!”—Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo
"Richly described . . . deeply compassionate . . . a haunting tribute to immigrant families and a gorgeous meditation on how stories can shape identity."—Shelf Awareness
“A rich, sprawling saga straddling continents, decades and fractured histories, Melissa Fu has written a gorgeous book of family love and loss. Fu braids together historical details with characters whose hopes and fears pull you along on every page, and leave you wanting more.”—Te-Ping Chen, author of Land of Big Numbers
“Peach Blossom Spring is a sweeping epic that transports the reader from war-torn China, where a mother consoles her son with ancient fables, through to modern-day America, where a little girl searches for her identity and the secrets of her father’s history. Melissa Fu effortlessly conjures a world rich in texture, taste and detail in this gentle, heartfelt, and moving story. It’s glorious and tender, exquisitely written and beautifully nuanced. I finished it with tears in my eyes and will be recommending it to everyone I know.” —Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne
"Melissa Fu chronicles a tumultuous period in Chinese history with stunning grace, while also offering us a fresh and important take on the immigrant story. In Dao Renshu’s family journey—fleeing from China during WWII, then finding and refinding himself in America—I recognized so many pieces of my own. Captivating from beginning to end.” —Mira T. Lee, author of Everything Here is Beautiful
“A brilliant multigenerational tale that stretches across the decades from pre-WWII China to post-Cold War America. Fu's novel is full of dynamic characters whose lives fill the pages with beauty and tragedy. . . . It's a timely story of displaced Chinese immigrants searching for home and identity after war and revolution ravage their homeland.” —Mary Lynn Bracht, author of White Chrysanthemum
“This intricately woven journey of four generations of a family buffeted by the complex tectonics of 20th century China and the US is so well told that I often paused to admire Fu’s poetic magic in bringing her characters and real historical moments to life.”—Helen Zia, author of Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution
2022-01-26
When Longwei returns to Hunan Province in 1938 after fighting the Japanese, he reports that his younger brother, Xiaowen, husband to Meilin and father to Renshu, has been killed in action, spurring the events in this multigenerational novel.
The first part of the book depicts Meilin’s harrowing struggle to protect and care for her young son while fleeing war, ultimately making a narrow escape to Taiwan. Meilin is written with tremendous appeal. She emerges as a hero, resourceful and clever, personable enough to make friends, smart enough to recognize danger, and capable of making a home, no matter the scarcity. The novel does a good job examining her ongoing relationship with Longwei, which grows increasingly complex over the course of the story. The author effectively transmits the chaos and dislocation of war, from losses that will never heal to chance encounters that save lives. In the second part of the book, Renshu transforms to Henry Dao as he immigrates to America and raises a daughter. Despite having been educated and living the bulk of his life in America, Henry is tenuous in his work and family life. He is haunted by childhood traumas that he cannot or will not share and never overcomes his sense that he and Meilin are under threat from Communist surveillance. His failure to fit in and his daughter’s brushes with racism provoke important questions about how America treats immigrants. Henry and his mother, their relationship frayed by distance and politics, reflect the concerns of generations of people forced by war to maintain family ties across continents. It is a weakness that the plot moves so fast, causing action to take precedence over suspense and nuance.
The author plumbs the immigrant experience, illuminating a key slice of Chinese history from Japan’s invasion to Mao’s rise.
★ 07/01/2022
After a slow start, this majestic saga (Fu's debut) follows one family through 70 turbulent years (1938–2005) of Chinese history. In 1938, as the Japanese army closes in on China, meek widow Meilin becomes a formidable force when she must scrabble to simply feed her four-year-old son, Renshu. Soon the invasion forces them to flee their home, but Meilin's engaging personality, talent as a raconteur, and practical skills (sewing, cooking) sustain her during a perilous journey to Taiwan. Later, with his mother's blessing, Renshu goes to study in the States, eventually settling in Los Alamos, NM, with his devoted wife Rachel and daughter Lily. Despite Renshu's reluctance to recall his early life, Lily revels in all things Chinese. A lovely interlude brings Meilin to visit the U.S.; 20 years later, Renshu and Lily travel to Taiwan. Fu's novel is rich with fables, and narrator Eugenia Low's storytelling style is an ideal match. Low makes the characters and their accents beguiling and believable, particularly when voicing Rachel and Lily. VERDICT This gorgeous story was meant to be narrated.—Susan G. Baird
Eugenia Low performs this powerful cross-cultural historical novel about a Chinese mother and young son who immigrate to America after enduring the horrors of the Japanese invasion in 1938. Destitute, Meilin and her son, Renshu, flee on foot with few possessions except an ancient scroll embellished with Chinese folktales. Low portrays Meilin’s simultaneous fear and courage as she desperately protects her son on the journey and employs an increasingly confident voice for Renshu as his studies in America eventually earn him an engineering career. The story of Renshu’s struggles as an immigrant student in the mid-twentieth century still resonates; he feels neither fully American nor fully Chinese. Low’s British-Asian voice is easy on the ears, and her melodic delivery of Chinese words is delightful. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Eugenia Low performs this powerful cross-cultural historical novel about a Chinese mother and young son who immigrate to America after enduring the horrors of the Japanese invasion in 1938. Destitute, Meilin and her son, Renshu, flee on foot with few possessions except an ancient scroll embellished with Chinese folktales. Low portrays Meilin’s simultaneous fear and courage as she desperately protects her son on the journey and employs an increasingly confident voice for Renshu as his studies in America eventually earn him an engineering career. The story of Renshu’s struggles as an immigrant student in the mid-twentieth century still resonates; he feels neither fully American nor fully Chinese. Low’s British-Asian voice is easy on the ears, and her melodic delivery of Chinese words is delightful. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
