Sixty years. That's when Suchi and Haiwen met as children while living in Shanghai. Their friendship turned into love and they planned to always be together. But a decision Haiwen made and the violent times of Chinese history put an end to their plans. Their lives took different paths and HOMESEEKING, by Karissa Chen tells their story. A chance meeting in a California grocery store opens up two lifetimes of memories. Haiwen, now a widower, holds his memories close but wonders if his and Suchi's time has finally come. Suchi sees no point in clinging to memories and only wants to move forward as their time together was in the past.
The story is told in multiple time periods and travels from Shanghai, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New York and California. Divergent paths far from their homes and difficult decisions shaped their lives. Could there be anything left from the love they once felt for each other to see them through whatever time they have left?
HOMESEEKING is a beautifully crafted story. Themes of family, love and honor are expertly woven together. Most of the narrative focuses on the characters' past lives and the vivid depictions of the difficult times they survived bringing to life a part of history I previously knew little about. For me, this is the power of historical fiction as it brings understanding about another time.
HOMESEEKING is a powerful and memorable story. It is well worth reading. Highly recommended.
An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.
A single choice can define an entire life.
Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in sixty years.
To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back.
Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighborhood, drawn by the sound of his violin. Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me.
Homeseeking follows the separated lovers through six decades of tumultuous Chinese history as war, famine, and opportunity take them separately to the song halls of Hong Kong, the military encampments of Taiwan, the bustling streets of New York, and sunny California, telling Haiwen’s story from the present to the past while tracing Suchi’s from her childhood to the present, meeting in the crucible of their lives. Throughout, Haiwen holds his memories close while Suchi forces herself to look only forward, neither losing sight of the home they hold in their hearts.
At once epic and intimate, Homeseeking is a story of family, sacrifice, and loyalty, and of the power of love to endure beyond distance, beyond time.
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