First published 2020
In 1960s and 1970s California, Japanese American characters navigate family legacies and cultural boundaries. They sort through the frozen belongings of dead relatives, record teenage conversations in school locker rooms, and gather neighborhood secrets while working as dental hygienists. Classic literary figures appear in new forms: Mr. Darcy leads the high school football team, and the world of Mansfield Park takes shape in a Los Angeles suburb. Bake sales replace formal dances, and families drive station wagons instead of riding in horse-drawn carriages. These characters cross lines of class, race, and gender as they discover what they have truly inherited from previous generations. The stories examine both the weight of family obligations and the possibility of creating something new from old traditions.
Genres: family, 20th-century, american, 21st-century, asian-american, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: California, Los Angeles
Period: 1960s, 1970s
224 pages · Paperback · Coffee House Press