A Memoir I Recommend and Book Give Away

My friend Wei Wei wrote a memoir "Tracing Our Footsteps: 15 Tales of Hope, Struggle and Triumph" that centers on her relationship with her dad and his move to the United States from China following his daughter who attended college in the USA and then moved here. He is a widower and dearly loves China, and Wei reconnects with him when he travels to California and moves in with Wei, her husband, and their young daughter.
Wei will send one copy of her book free to some lucky reader of this blog; to enter just leave a comment on this blog post.

There are 15 chapters and I read one, and then another and another, since her story is compelling and well written. As I saw how big the culture shock was for her dad, I wondered, will he stay in California with Wei or return to his roots in China.

I asked her some questions and I share her answers below.

1. What is your book about?

This humorous, moving, and rich memoir is about my efforts to help my dad to fit into a new environment and to re-establish our relationship. It focuses on ordinary, but profound experiences that a father and a daughter shared, reflecting upon their personal values, perspectives, and priorities during a five-year period and offers the reader insight into the life and struggle of a contemporary immigrant family.

2.   Lots of people say they have a book they want to write, yet you went ahead and did it. What was your inspiration for writing this book?

The idea began with a tribute to my aging father in mind. However, as I continued to write the memoir, I was reminded of similar stories told to me by other people.  I suddenly realized that what I was writing was not just my tale about my family.  It was really a story of a journey shared across various age, race, gender or cultural backgrounds. In a way, it was universal.

3. Anything else you want to share?

I appreciate all those who have helped, including my family, reviewers, friends and my publisher.

Here is a part of what I wrote in a review of Wei's book: Wei is gifted at painting word pictures, like this one about her father's love of eating Chinese noodles: "One cannot try to substitute or improve upon a simple bowl of noodles that is steeped in the sauces of memory and culture." 

The paperback ($14) and kindle are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Tracing-Our-Footsteps-Wei/dp/1460207262/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376450096&sr=8-1&keywords=tracing+our+footsteps

I will select the winner using random.org on August 20 and the author will mail you your very own copy of her compelling memoir.