Finding Myself in Books

These books by Amy Tan are part of my assortment of reading related to my Chinese heritage. They were the first books that reflected my own experience, where despite the different context I recognised moments that felt very familiar.

The first book related to China that I came across was by Pearl S. Buck and was probably The Three Daughters of Madame Liang, published by the Companion Book Club when I was fourteen. It was a thrill to discover a book that was vaguely related to my mother's life. It didn't lead to any family conversations because it was clearly a very different story, but for many years there was nothing closer.

Recent events set me thinking about whether it would have made a difference to have had books when I was younger  that related to personal experience.  I don't know, though I never really expected to find novels about growing up with a Chinese mum - until Amy Tan!