by Sigrid Nunez
First published 2005
A young woman reflects on her childhood in a housing project during the 1950s and 1960s. Her father, a Chinese-Panamanian immigrant, remains silent and distant. Her German mother yearns for home and fills the apartment with stories of another world. The daughter navigates between these two worlds, finding refuge in books and ballet lessons. She listens to her parents' tales while creating her own dreams of escape. The dance studio becomes a sanctuary where she can transform into someone else entirely. Her mother's homesickness permeates their small apartment like incense. Her father's silence speaks louder than words ever could. Between the concrete walls of public housing and the ethereal world of ballet, she discovers how stories and movement shape both imagination and desire. The girl learns that love comes in many forms, sometimes expressed through the tales parents tell and sometimes through the spaces they leave unfilled.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, coming-of-age, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: China, Panama, Germany
Period: 1950s, 1960s
192 pages · Paperback · Picador