Madeleine Thien Books in Order

Families struggle with the distance between generations, cultures, and personal loyalties in these stories. Children and adults try to understand the events that shaped their relationships, searching for reconciliation while confronting memories that resist simple explanations.

When Lin Lin and her father move from China to Canada, their traditional violin helps them hold onto home. Music accompanies unfamiliar experiences and difficulties settling in, until the treasured instrument suffers an unexpected break.

Vancouver radio producer Gail Lim investigates the history connecting her parents to wartime Asia. Her search leads to an Amsterdam photographer and a woman's story that illuminates old separations while complicating Gail's understanding of her own life.

A survivor of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime, Janie struggles to sustain her life in Montreal and leaves her family. Seeking refuge with scientist Hiroji, she confronts shared losses before his disappearance reopens questions about the past.

A Chinese refugee's arrival in a Vancouver household opens the history of interconnected families and three musicians. Their lives span the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square, revealing how art, political upheaval, and memory shape successive generations.

Lina and her father arrive at the Seaplace, where travelers from different centuries share an uncertain refuge. As she befriends a philosopher, scholar, and poet, her father’s troubled past emerges, connecting their flight with questions of guilt and responsibility.