Dumpling Book Club
Welcome to The Dumpling Book Club!
Almost every culture has a version of a dumpling. A ‘dumpling’ is open to interpretation, we all have favourites, we can be biased, there’s a genre for everyone, and one dumpling is just for you but you can share the experience with others as dumplings are served in multiple - dumplings are a little like books.
We have defined ‘Asian’ in a wide sense, but there will probably be a focus on East and South East Asian writers as that is the community both Maria and I are a part of.
We will have dedicated instagram posts for book discussions! Enjoy, read, comment, share your thoughts! You don’t need to have read the full book to join in the conversation, some books take a long time to read, some don’t grip you, some you dip in and out of, and we also hope some will be devoured.
During the reading period we will invite the author to join us for a discussion online.
Sunday, June 8
IN CONVERSATION with Karissa Chen
10am US Eastern Time / 3pm British Summer Time
Tickets £5, here
Each book club event also features a cook-a-long before the author conversation. Maria creates a recipe inspired by the book and teaches a class the hour beforehand.
Tickets can be purchased on the same link, and you will receive an email the week before with all the details.
A reminder - you don’t need to have read the book to come to the event!
Homeseeking
by Karissa Chen
DBC’s Summer read
We are so excited to be reading Homeseeking this summer. It is a beautiful story that traverses the globe and multiple decades following to friends and lovers. Often heartbreaking, it is a vulnerable look into the lives of families facing extraordinary circumstances that also brings joy and love.
Read the New York Time’s review of Homeseeking here.
“There are moments when a single choice can define an entire life. Haiwen and Suchi are teenage sweethearts in 1940s Shanghai; their childhood friendship has blossomed into young love, and they believe that they are soulmates. But when Haiwen secretly decides to enlist in the army to keep his brother from the draft, their shared future is shattered. Their paths take them far afield from each other, with the exception of one pivotal chance encounter on the Hong Kong ferry in 1966.
Sixty years later, Haiwen, now in his late seventies, is bagging bananas at a 99 Ranch in Los Angeles when he lifts his head to once more see Suchi. As they begin to rekindle their friendship, it feels like they might have a second chance to live the life they were supposed to have together. But the weight of the past lives with them at every moment, and only time will tell if they are able to forge something new.
Told in alternating narratives, Homeseeking spans seven decades, through the most tumultuous period of modern Chinese history up to contemporary times, tracing the separated lovers as they migrate from Shanghai to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and America.”
If you’re in the UK we recommend buying the book online at Juniper by the Sea. Otherwise, at any great independent bookshop near you.
Join our discussion about book here - comment as you read, we’d love to hear all your thoughts regardless of where you’re up to in the book!