With her debut novel, journalist Huang Wen-Ling guides readers through the Second World War, the Chinese Civil War, the White Terror, and the coronavirus pandemic with a multi-generational narrative about parting and reunion that showcases the will to survive and the true meaning of family.

To escape war, they left their country and fled halfway across the world. They were seeking refuge, but what they found was a home.


In the 1930s, eighteen thousand Jews fled Nazi Germany to China. Their destination was Shanghai, a city that required no identity papers to enter. To the Hirsch family, it seemed unimaginable to relocate to a completely unfamiliar country like China, but after the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, they decided their only hope was to leave behind everything they knew to build new lives in a strange land. In Shanghai, fate brought them into contact with the Chiang family. In a chaotic world, the two families transcended linguistic and cultural barriers, assisting each other, and building a friendship that was priceless beyond measure. After the war, the Hirsches returned to Germany, thinking they might not ever see the Chiangs again. Little did they know that some years later they would receive a letter from the Chiangs: China was in the middle of a civil war, and the Chiangs feared their only son would be sent to the front lines.


In 2020, Jan, a young man of mixed German and Chinese ancestry, discovers a box among the possessions of his recently deceased grandfather. Inside, a number of objects pique his curiosity: the photograph of a young girl, a silver ring, and a letter of guarantee to be used for German immigration. Growing up, Jan had heard the stories about his grandfather escaping from China, but he never understood why his grandfather always insisted he was from Taiwan, a country he had never set foot in. Hoping to unravel this mystery, Jan undertakes the same journey as his ancestors, traveling to a strange land to search for answers, and shed light on events that have been erased from history.


With the sharp eyes of a seasoned journalist, Huang Wen-Ling has produced a gentle and touching work of diaspora fiction that addresses immigrant identity and the scars of war. This moving story of cross-cultural friendship transcends the suffering of dislocation and turmoil to shine a spotlight on the importance of basic human kindness, reminding readers that even the deepest wounds cannot dim our hopes for a better future.