A beautifully written, poignant exploration of family, art, culture, immigrationand love (Jean Kwok, author of Searching for Sylvie Lee and Girl in Translation) set against the backdrop of Chinas Cultural Revolution that follows a fathers quest to reunite his family before his precocious daughters momentous birthday, which Garth Greenwell calls one of the most beautiful debuts Ive read in years.
How many times in life can we start over without losing ourselves? In the summer of 1986, in a small Chinese village, ten-year-old Junie receives a momentous letter from her parents, who had left for America years ago: her father promises to return home and collect her by her twelfth birthday. But Junies growing determination to stay put in the idyllic countryside with her beloved grandparents threatens to derail her familys shared future. Junie doesnt know that her parents, Momo and Cassia, are newly estranged from one another in their adopted country, each holding close private tragedies and histories from the tumultuous years of their youth during Chinas Cultural Revolution. While Momo grapples anew with his deferred musical ambitions and dreams for Junies future in America, Cassia finally begins to wrestle with a shocking act of brutality from years ago. For Momo to fulfill his promise, he must make one last desperate attempt to reunite all three family members before Junies birthdayeven if it means bringing painful family secrets to light. Swimming Back to Trout River is a symphony of a novel (BookPage) that weaves together the stories of Junie, Momo, Cassia, and Dawna talented violinist from Momos pastwhile depicting their heartbreak and resilience, tenderly revealing the hope, compromises, and abiding ingenuity that make up the lives of immigrants. Fengs debut is filled with tragedy yet touched with life-affirming passion (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), and Feng weaves a plot both surprising and inevitable, with not a word to spare (Booklist, starred review).
