50
Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's Books
Cart |
|  my account  |  wish list  |  help   |  800-878-7323
Hello, | Login
MENU
  • Browse
    • New Arrivals
    • Bestsellers
    • Featured Preorders
    • Award Winners
    • Audio Books
    • See All Subjects
  • Used
  • Staff Picks
    • Staff Picks
    • Picks of the Month
    • 50 Books for 50 Years
    • 25 PNW Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books From the 21st Century
    • 25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Global Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Women to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books to Read Before You Die
  • Gifts
    • Gift Cards & eGift Cards
    • Powell's Souvenirs
    • Journals and Notebooks
    • socks
    • Games
  • Sell Books
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Find A Store

Don't Miss

  • Summer Sale: 20% Off Select Books
  • United Stories of America: 20% Off Select Nonfiction Titles
  • Self Portraits: 20% Off Select Memoirs
  • Powell's Author Events
  • Oregon Battle of the Books
  • Audio Books

Visit Our Stores


Powell's Staff: From the Buyers' Desk: Summer 2022 (0 comment)
When it comes to forthcoming books, the Powell’s Book Buying team are the ones to look to for recommendations. They know what they’re talking about, and they were kind enough to put together this list of 21 books they can’t wait to read this summer...
Read More»
  • Powell's Staff: 12 Books to Add to Your 2022 Summer Reading List (1 comment)
  • Kelsey Ford: Powell's Picks Spotlight: Lidia Yuknavitch's 'Thrust' (0 comment)

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

River of Stars A Novel

by Vanessa Hua
River of Stars A Novel

  • Comment on this title
  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9780399178788
ISBN10: 0399178783
Condition: Standard
DustJacket: Standard

All Product Details

View Larger ImageView Larger Images
Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$10.95
List Price:$27.00
Used Hardcover
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
1Burnside

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Holed up with other mothers-to-be in a secret maternity home in Los Angeles, Scarlett Chen is far from her native China, where she worked in a factory and fell in love with the owner, Boss Yeung. Now she’s carrying his baby. Already married with three daughters, Boss Yeung is overjoyed because the doctors have confirmed that he will finally have the son he has always wanted. To ensure that his child has every advantage, Boss Yeung has shipped Scarlett off to give birth on American soil. U.S. citizenship will open doors for their little prince.

As Scarlett awaits the baby’s arrival, she chokes down bitter medicinal stews and spars with her imperious housemates. The only one who fits in even less is Daisy, a spirited teenager and fellow unwed mother who is being kept apart from her American boyfriend.

Then a new sonogram of Scarlett’s baby reveals the unexpected. Panicked, she escapes by hijacking a van — only to discover that she has a stowaway: Daisy, who intends to track down the father of her child. The two flee to San Francisco’s bustling Chinatown, where Scarlett will join countless immigrants desperately trying to seize their piece of the American dream. What Scarlett doesn’t know is that her baby’s father is not far behind her.

A River of Stars is an entertaining, wildly unpredictable adventure, told with empathy and wit by an author the San Francisco Chronicle says “has a deep understanding of the pressure of submerged emotions and polite, face-saving deceptions.” It’s a vivid examination of home and belonging, and a moving portrayal of a woman determined to build her own future.

Review

“A River of Stars splits the ‘Chinese immigrant story’ into a kaleidoscopic spectrum, putting human faces to the many groups — rich and poor, privileged and marginalized, documented and not — who come to America. Vanessa Hua’s debut is an utterly absorbing novel about the ruthless love of parenthood and the universal truth that sometimes family runs deeper than blood alone.” Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You

Review

“Vanessa Hua’s debut is a vibrant, fascinating look into womanhood and how so many women’s lives are shaped by their relationship to the powerful men within them....Hua infuses this story with spirit and humor, exploring the ways in which pregnancy and motherhood can be both liberating and entrapping for the women who endure them. It’s a remarkable novel, one which makes clear the many ways in which women must struggle to make their lives their own.” Nylon

Review

“[A] skillful debut novel...that is heartbreaking and, at turns, hilarious....Hua wonderfully evokes the exigencies of lives at the margins of American culture by revealing Scarlett’s enduring ingenuity as she navigates near-destitute single motherhood.” Publishers Weekly

Review

“[This] gripping tale of Scarlett Chen, a Chinese boss’s mistress sent to America to birth a child, is as moving as it is entertaining.” Electric Lit

Synopsis

In a powerful debut novel about modern-day motherhood, immigration, and identity, a pregnant Chinese woman makes her way to California and stakes a claim to the American dream.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND NPR

"Utterly absorbing."--Celeste Ng - "A marvel of a first novel."--O: The Oprah Magazine

Holed up with other mothers-to-be in a secret maternity home in Los Angeles, Scarlett Chen is far from her native China, where she worked in a factory and fell in love with the owner, Boss Yeung. Now she's carrying his baby. Already married with three daughters, Boss Yeung is overjoyed because the doctors have confirmed that he will finally have the son he has always wanted. To ensure that his child has every advantage, Boss Yeung has shipped Scarlett off to give birth on American soil. U.S. citizenship will open doors for their little prince.

As Scarlett awaits the baby's arrival, she chokes down bitter medicinal stews and spars with her imperious housemates. The only one who fits in even less is Daisy, a spirited teenager and fellow unwed mother who is being kept apart from her American boyfriend.

Then a new sonogram of Scarlett's baby reveals the unexpected. Panicked, she escapes by hijacking a van--only to discover that she has a stowaway: Daisy, who intends to track down the father of her child. The two flee to San Francisco's bustling Chinatown, where Scarlett will join countless immigrants desperately trying to seize their piece of the American dream. What Scarlett doesn't know is that her baby's father is not far behind her.

A River of Stars
is an entertaining, wildly unpredictable adventure, told with empathy and wit by an author the San Francisco Chronicle says "has a deep understanding of the pressure of submerged emotions and polite, face-saving deceptions." It's a vivid examination of home and belonging, and a moving portrayal of a woman determined to build her own future.

Praise for A River of Stars

" A] powerful debut."--Entertainment Weekly

"Hua's story spins with wild fervor, with charming protagonists fiercely motivated by maternal and survival instincts."--USA Today

"Hua's epic A River of Stars follows a pair of pregnant Chinese immigrant women--two of the more vibrant characters I've come across in a while--on the lam from Los Angeles to San Francisco's Chinatown."--R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries, in Esquire

Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - In a powerful debut about modern-day motherhood, immigration, and identity, a pregnant Chinese woman stakes a claim to the American dream in California.

"Utterly absorbing."--Celeste Ng - "A marvel of a first novel."--O: The Oprah Magazine - "The most eye-opening literary adventure of the year."--Entertainment Weekly

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post - NPR - Real Simple

Holed up with other mothers-to-be in a secret maternity home in Los Angeles, Scarlett Chen is far from her native China, where she worked in a factory and fell in love with the married owner, Boss Yeung. Now she's carrying his baby. To ensure that his child--his first son--has every advantage, Boss Yeung has shipped Scarlett off to give birth on American soil. As Scarlett awaits the baby's arrival, she spars with her imperious housemates. The only one who fits in even less is Daisy, a spirited, pregnant teenager who is being kept apart from her American boyfriend.

Then a new sonogram of Scarlett's baby reveals the unexpected. Panicked, she goes on the run by hijacking a van--only to discover that she has a stowaway: Daisy, who intends to track down the father of her child. The two flee to San Francisco's bustling Chinatown, where Scarlett will join countless immigrants desperately trying to seize their piece of the American dream. What Scarlett doesn't know is that her baby's father is not far behind her.

A River of Stars is a vivid examination of home and belonging and a moving portrayal of a woman determined to build her own future.

Praise for A River of Stars

"Vanessa Hua's story spins with wild fervor, with charming protagonists fiercely motivated by maternal and survival instincts."--USA Today

"A River of Stars is the best of all worlds: part buddy cop adventure, part coming-of-age story and part ode to female friendship."--NPR

"Hua's epic A River of Stars follows a pair of pregnant Chinese immigrant women--two of the more vibrant characters I've come across in a while--on the lam from Los Angeles to San Francisco's Chinatown."--R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries, in Esquire

"A delightful novel of motherhood and Chinese immigration . . . Without wading into policy debates, Ms Hua dramatises the stories and contributions of immigrants who believe in grand ideals and strive to live up to them."--The Economist


About the Author

Vanessa Hua is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and the author of a short story collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities. For two decades, she has been writing, in journalism and fiction, about Asia and the Asian diaspora. She has received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, the San Francisco Foundation’s James D. Phelan Award, and a Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing, as well as honors from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. A River of Stars is Vanessa Hua’s first novel.

Vanessa Hua on PowellsBooks.Blog

Vanessa Hua Over the years, I’ve developed and sought out suggestions on how to establish a writing practice, sustain creativity, and find community. May the following help you, too...

Read More»


What Our Readers Are Saying

Be the first to share your thoughts on this title!




Product Details

ISBN:
9780399178788
Binding:
Hardcover
Publication date:
08/14/2018
Publisher:
BALLANTINE BOOKS
Pages:
304
Height:
1.20IN
Width:
6.30IN
Author:
Vanessa Hua

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$10.95
List Price:$27.00
Used Hardcover
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
QtyStore
1Burnside

More copies of this ISBN

  • Signed, Used, Hardcover, $13.95
  • Used, Hardcover, $11.95

This title in other editions

  • New, Trade Paperback, $17.00
  • Used, Trade Paperback, Starting from $8.50
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

  • Help
  • Guarantee
  • My Account
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Security
  • Wish List
  • Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Shipping
  • Sitemap
  • © 2022 POWELLS.COM Terms

{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##