A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
'A layered, beautifully written, and deeply moving novel. Karissa Chen masterfully blends love, music, history, and heartbreak to create a sweeping tale that spans decades and continents'
Abi Daré

'[Homeseeking] weaves expertly between present and past, telling the story of childhood sweethearts who meet again late in life and are torn between looking back and moving on'
Celeste Ng

'Wonderfully cinematic, gorgeously orchestrated . . . like any tried-and-true epic (think Pachinko or The Joy Luck Club) . . . Homeseeking is just a genuine pleasure to read'
San Francisco Chronicle

'As I tearfully turned the last page of Homeseeking, I knew that it had earned a place on my top shelf . . . unforgettable'
Washington Post

'One of the best debut novels of this century'
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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.

'A love story in more ways than one, Homeseeking is a beautiful, nuanced look at Chinese history, family, young love, and the wisdom of age'
Vanessa Chan

"A towering achievement in storytelling . . . an impactful love story, told against the backdrop of historical events . . . one of the best debut novels of this century." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Masterful and ambitious . . . mesmerising in its balance between global events and intimate suffering, and its portrayal of ruptured lives is heartrending" - Harper's Bazaar

"Skilfully interweaves the personal and the political to produce a kaleidoscopic and affecting work" - Guardian

"Wonderfully cinematic, gorgeously orchestrated . . . like any tried-and-true epic (think Pachinko or The Joy Luck Club) . . . Homeseeking is just a genuine pleasure to read." - San Francisco Chronicle

"[A] poignant debut . . . through her characters' ranging sensibilities, Chen examines the psychological aftershocks of war . . . history and fate, displacement and separation. These are grand topics, but through Suchi and Haiwen's quests for belonging amid insurmountable conflict, Homeseeking captures the enduring and unexpected ways these larger forces impact individual lives." - New York Times Book Review

"While Karissa Chen's sweeping epic, Homeseeking, centers on war, love and family, more than anything it's about the immigrant's phantom limb - the longing for home and for the lives and loves left behind . . . The ambition and scope of Homeseeking are impressive enough before considering Chen's craft and execution. It is impossible not to marvel at the many strands she has woven into this beating heart of a novel . . . It is rare that a 500-page book delivers on its weight, and even rarer that a book I'm asked to review becomes an all-time favorite. But as I tearfully turned the last page of Homeseeking, I knew that it had earned a place on my top shelf. For Chen has finally put into words the lifelong grief I have carried as an immigrant - grief for a childhood, a place, a home that no longer exist . . . Just as I did, many readers are bound to find their home within the pages of Chen's unforgettable debut." - Washington Post