Books by Jean Kwok

A poignant and suspenseful drama that untangles the complicated ties binding three women in one Chinese immigrant family

From the bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee and Girl in Translation, an inspiring novel about a young woman torn between her family duties in Chinatown and her escape into a more Western world. Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Wong grew up in New York's Chinatown, the older daughter of a Beijing ballerina and a noodle maker. Though an ABC (American-born Chinese), Charlie's entire life has been limited to this small area. Now grown, she lives in the same tiny apartment with her widower father and her eleven-year-old sister, and works-miserably-as a dishwasher. But when she lands a job as a receptionist at a ballroom dance studio, Charlie gains access to a world she hardly knew existed, and everything she once took to be certain turns upside down. Gradually, at the dance studio, awkward Charlie's natural talents begin to emerge. With them, her perspective, expectations, and sense of self are transformed-something she must take great pains to hide from her father and his suspicion of all things Western. As Charlie blossoms, though, her sister becomes chronically ill. As Pa insists on treating his ailing child exclusively with Eastern practices to no avail, Charlie is forced to try to reconcile her two selves and her two worlds-Eastern and Western, old world and new-to rescue her little sister without sacrificing her newfound confidence and identity.

New York Times bestseller Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok is a powerful story about a Chinese immigrant family in Brooklyn.Kimberley Chang and her mother move from Hong Kong to New York. A new life awaits them - making a new home in a new country. But all they can afford is a verminous, broken-windowed Brooklyn apartment. The only heating is an unreliable oven. They are deep in debt.And neither one speaks one word of English.Yet there is hope. Eleven-year-old Kim goes to school. And though cut off by an alien language and culture and forced by poverty to work nights in a sweatshop - she finds the classroom challenges liberating. In books and learning she'll be saved. But can Kim successfully turn to lost girl from Hong Kong into a happy American woman? And should she?Jean Kwok's powerful and moving tale of hardship and triumph, of heartbreak and love, speaks of all that gets lost in translation.'A sensitively handled rites-of-passage account...has the unmistakable ring of authenticity' Metro'A truly amazing story that'll leave you full of admiration and affection for the characters' Easy Living'A classic and moving immigration story' RedJean Kwok emigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn as a child; her first novel Girl in Translation is based loosely on her own experience as a Chinese immigrant in America. With Girl in Translation Jean Kwok has won the American Library Association Alex Award, an Orange New Writers title and international critical acclaim.

En pragtfuld roman om kulturkonflikter og forskelle og om at klare sig med det bedste fra to verdener. Bogen er solgt til udgivelse i foreløbig 15 lande og har modtaget en uendelig række af priser. Delvis selvbiografisk historie om 11-årige Kimberley som sammen med sin mor emigrerer fra relativt gode forhold i Shanghai til sweatshops og fattigdom i New York. Kimberley kommer hurtigt til at leve et dobbeltliv som mønsterelev i skolen om dagen og som hårdtarbejdende fabriksarbejder på tekstilfabrikken i Chinatown om aftenen. Hun gør sit yderste for at skjule den pinlige sandhed om sin tilværelse – den ekstreme fattigdom, hun lever i, vægten af familiens fremtid, som hviler på hendes skuldre, og den hemmelige kærlighed, hun føler for en af drengene på fabrikken, men som ikke deler nogen af hendes evner eller ambitioner. Det viser sig imidlertid, at Kimberly er meget dygtig i skolen, og hun forstår hurtigt, at vejen ud af elendighed er uddannelse. Hun får efterhånden stipendier til gode skoler og universiteter, men lever hele tiden i den totale splittelse mellem moderens immigrant-tilværelse (moderen lærer for eksempel aldrig engelsk) og sine egne forsøg på at blive integreret. Kimberley befinder sig midt imellem to verdener og lærer at jonglere ikke bare sprogligt, men også med sine forskellige roller. Nydelige skildringer af forholdet mellem mor og datter og mange fornøjelige scener, hvor kulturkonflikten mellem det kinesiske og det amerikanske folder sig ud i al sin pragt. Forfatteren, som selv er emigreret fra Hong Kong som barn, fortæller en historie om at vokse op mellem to kulturer, omgivet af et sprog og en kultur, som man kun delvis forstår. Midt imellem er en rørende og morsom roman om prøvelser og triumfer, hjertesorg og kærlighed – og om alt det, der går tabt i oversættelsen. Med debutromanen Midt imellem har Jean Kwok fået et stort publikum i mange lande. Jean Kwoks egen baggrund er udgangspunktet for succesdebuten Midt imellem. Hun blev født i Hong Kong og immigrerede til Brooklyn, New York sammen med sin familie, da hun var fem år gammel. I lighed med bogens hovedperson arbejdede hun på en tekstilfabrik sammen med sin familie. Hun lærte sig hurtigt det amerikanske sprog og studerede senere på det prestigetunge Harvard, hvorfra hun har en bachelorgrad samt Master of Fine Arts fra Columbia. Jean Kwok bor i dag i Holland.