Lan Samantha Chang Books in Order

Sisters Junan and Yinan promise never to separate after their mother’s death. Marriage and Japan’s invasion of China break their closeness, and Junan’s decision to send Yinan to her soldier husband creates a betrayal whose consequences echo through generations in China and America.

Poetry students Roman and Bernard seek the approval of charismatic professor Miranda Sturgis. Their diverging careers, one marked by early success and the other by years of solitary work, reveal the costs of ambition, compromised friendships, and devotion to artistic achievement.

The sons of a Chinese American restaurant owner reunite in Wisconsin, where old resentments erupt before their father is found dead. A murder trial exposes possible motives, family secrets, and the prejudices beneath the town’s apparently comfortable relationship with the Chaos.

A novella and five stories follow immigrant families shadowed by lost love and difficult obligations. Ghostly encounters, demands for revenge, and an exiled musician’s disappointed ambitions reveal how longing and family history can shape generations.