After World War II, a veteran struggling with the loss of his identity marries a call girl beset by misfortune. As this new family struggles to survive against the conditions of their fate, ordinary tragedies become a mirror to Taiwan's tumultuous post-war history.

In the aftermath of World War II, control of Taiwan passes from the Empire of Japan to the Republic of China. But for Goldie, a Taiwanese soldier who fought for the Japanese army, the celebrations taking place in the streets of Taiwan are meaningless. Robbed of his identity and purpose, Goldie leads an aimless existence until he meets Celine, a call girl.

Celine has been wrestling with fate all her life. Born into poverty, she was sold as a child bride, and eventually forced to make a living as a prostitute. Unwilling to accept these circumstances, she agrees to join the already-married Goldie as his concubine. However, their life together is far from easy. Finally, after a lifetime spent in defiance of the cards she was dealt, the elderly Celine enters a monastery, casting off the restrictive rules of a game she could never win.

The couple's eldest daughter, Lotus, stood by her mother throughout her stubborn campaign against the cruel dictates of fate. At the same time, she watched as her father's voice was silenced by an endless succession of political campaigns and changes of regime. Charting her own course through life, she is neither as combative as her mother, nor as resigned as her father. She only wishes to live. Because only those that stay alive have the strength to resist.

The latest novel from "the new monster of Taiwan literature" Chu Ja-Han, Gold Moon Lotus is a family epic that spans the eras of Japanese colonial rule, the White Terror, and, after the lifting of martial law in 1987, democracy and reform. Goldie, Celine, and Lotus each find their own ways to resist being crushed by fate, and when that fails, to rebuild themselves again. In the process, each also finds their own ways to love, hate, and make amends. Setting these ordinary lives against the implacable tides of modern history, the novel uses the intimate realm of individual love and personal memory to reveal the heart of a nation.