| Author: | Mei-Ling Hopgood | ISBN: | 9781616200121 |
| Publisher: | Workman Publishing | Publication: | June 15, 2010 |
| Imprint: | Algonquin Books | Language: | English |
| Author: | Mei-Ling Hopgood |
| ISBN: | 9781616200121 |
| Publisher: | Workman Publishing |
| Publication: | June 15, 2010 |
| Imprint: | Algonquin Books |
| Language: | English |
The true story of an American woman’s unexpected reunion with her Chinese birth family: “A great book” (Good Housekeeping).
In 1974, a baby girl from Taiwan was brought to the United States, newly adopted by a loving couple in Michigan. Mei-Ling Hopgood had an all-American upbringing, never really identifying with her Asian roots or harboring a desire to uncover her ancestry. She believed herself lucky to have escaped a life that was surely one of poverty and misery, to grow up in comfort with her doting parents and brothers.
Then, when she was in her twenties, her birth family came calling. Rather than the rural peasants she always pictured, they are a boisterous, loving, bossy, complicated middle-class family who hound her daily—by phone, fax, and letter, in a language she doesn’t understand—until she returns to Taiwan to meet them. As her biological sisters and parents pull her into their lives, claiming her as one of their own, the devastating secrets that still haunt this family begin to emerge.
Spanning cultures and continents, Lucky Girl brings home a tale of joy and regret, hilarity, deep sadness, and great discovery as the author untangles the unlikely strands that formed her destiny.
“Enchanting . . . Hopgood’s story entices not because it’s joyful but because she is honest, analytical and articulate concerning her ambivalence about and eventual acceptance of both her families and herself.” —The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky)
The true story of an American woman’s unexpected reunion with her Chinese birth family: “A great book” (Good Housekeeping).
In 1974, a baby girl from Taiwan was brought to the United States, newly adopted by a loving couple in Michigan. Mei-Ling Hopgood had an all-American upbringing, never really identifying with her Asian roots or harboring a desire to uncover her ancestry. She believed herself lucky to have escaped a life that was surely one of poverty and misery, to grow up in comfort with her doting parents and brothers.
Then, when she was in her twenties, her birth family came calling. Rather than the rural peasants she always pictured, they are a boisterous, loving, bossy, complicated middle-class family who hound her daily—by phone, fax, and letter, in a language she doesn’t understand—until she returns to Taiwan to meet them. As her biological sisters and parents pull her into their lives, claiming her as one of their own, the devastating secrets that still haunt this family begin to emerge.
Spanning cultures and continents, Lucky Girl brings home a tale of joy and regret, hilarity, deep sadness, and great discovery as the author untangles the unlikely strands that formed her destiny.
“Enchanting . . . Hopgood’s story entices not because it’s joyful but because she is honest, analytical and articulate concerning her ambivalence about and eventual acceptance of both her families and herself.” —The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky)
