We're back for a new season! Our guest this week is Belinda Huijuan Tang, author of the debut novel A Map for the Missing. The novel spans time from the 1970s through the 1990s, in China as well as the United States, and centers family secrets and miscommunication along with the impact of pursuing one's dreams. What does it mean to live a life of knowledge, and how easy is it to achieve that path?

Belinda chose Wang Anyi's The Song of Everlasting Sorrow as her favorite book. Written in 1995 and translated from Chinese, this novel spans four decades in the life of Wang Qiyao, a former beauty queen who lives a life of heartbreak in both old and new Shanghai. The book is dense, complex, but also deliciously petty and joyful in its depictions of Wang Anyi's hometown. As always, no spoilers!

Books discussed: Siren Queen by Nghi Vo, Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You by Alice Munro

Buy Belinda's book: https://bookshop.org/books/a-map-for-the-missing/9780593300664

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