Arthur Golden Book order (chronological)

De rode kamer is Pauline A. Chens epische hervertelling van het belangrijkste boek uit de Chinese literatuur, De droom van de rode kamer , dat zich afspeelt in het roerige Beijing van de achttiende eeuw. Het is een indringende roman over rangen en standen en over de ondergeschikte positie van Chinese vrouwen in die tijd, die ondanks de hun opgelegde beperkingen de kracht vinden om een eigen leven te leiden. Daiyu heeft haar hele leven in de provincie gewoond, maar wordt na de dood van haar moeder naar haar familie Jia in de Chinese hoofdstad Beijing gestuurd. Haar familieleden blijken tot haar verbazing nauwe banden te onderhouden met het keizerlijk paleis en een weelderig leven te leiden in de talrijke vertrekken van huize Rongguo. Ze zijn verwikkeld in geheimzinnige intriges en leveren een bittere strijd om macht en invloed. Daiyu trekt bij haar komst meteen de aandacht van haar neef Baoyu, maar hij is door zijn grootmoeder al uitgehuwelijkt aan een andere nicht. De noodlottige liefde tussen Daiyu en Baoyu markeert het begin van de teloorgang van de familie Jia.

Multigenerational and international, the characters in Reddi's unique stories long for the comfort of the past while building unfamiliar and friable new lives in America. Finding the right balance between traditional Indian culture and the allure of contemporary Western life becomes a high-stakes juggling act—a gamble that they can't always win. A contentious septuagenarian reunites with a childhood friend after an unlikely argument threatens to erase decades of history; a 15-year acquaintance with the town's librarian tempts a middle-aged housewife to consider the unthinkable; a young, assimilated college student condemns her best friend for consenting to an arranged marriage; a widow flees her son's comfortable American life and returns to the village of her birth; a young husband and father finds success disappointingly elusive and spends his days on Boston's wintry streets, rescuing injured birds.Proud, lonely, despairing, and hopeful, Reddi's characters and the stories that surround them not only animate the struggle between tradition and a new way of life but also bear witness to the common ground we all share. That Reddi is able to transcend the confines of immigrant literature, choosing instead to examine the universal themes of love, loss, family, and duty, marks Karma and Other Stories as a resonant and gifted debut.

In a single eye-opening year, two women, worlds apart, experience parallel awakenings. In New York, Jane Takagi-Little has landed a job producing Japanese docu-soap My American Wife! But as she researches the consumption of meat in the American home, she begins to realize that her ruthless search for a story is deeply compromising her morals. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, housewife Akiko Ueno diligently prepares the recipes from Jane's programme. Struggling to please her husband, she increasingly doubts her commitment to the life she has fallen into. As Jane and Akiko both battle to assert their individuality on opposite sides of the globe, they are drawn together in a startling story of strength, courage, love.

"Captivating, minutely imagined . . . a novel that refuses to stay shut" ("Newsweek"), "Memoirs of a Geisha" is now released in a movie tie-in edition.