Karissa Chen’s Homeseeking is the latest Good Morning America book club pick.
Chen’s debut novel, published Tuesday by Putnam, follows Haiwen and Suchi, who fell in love as young people in China and reunite 60 years later after a chance encounter in a Los Angeles grocery store. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “This is historical fiction at its most effective. Romantic lyricism and hard-edged realism merge in this compelling novel.”
GMA co-anchor Robin Roberts announced the book’s selection on the morning show, calling it “a sweeping family drama spanning six decades about how a single choice can change an entire family’s life.”
Chen appeared on GMA to discuss the origin of her book, saying that it was inspired by her own family.
“The genesis of this book really came in 2005,” she said. “My grandfather had passed away and we were going through his things, and we found this photograph of him weeping in front of his mother’s grave. That was the first time I had ever seen him cry, and it was really moving to me. I learned later that when he was 19 years old, he had gone to Taiwan, and because of the Chinese Civil War he was not able to return to Shanghai, where he was from, so he never saw his mother again.”
Asked if she believed whether it is possible for people to find home again, Chen said, “Absolutely. To me, home is about the people. For Haiwen and Suchi…I think part of what sustains them, and part of what is really home for them, is their love for each other and their love for their family—they always have home with them.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
