Night of Many Dreams
SynopsisPlot
As World War II threatens their comfortable life in Hong Kong, young Joan and Emma Lew escape with their family to spend the war years in Macao. When they return home, Emma develops a deep interest in travel and sets her sights on an artistic life in San Francisco, while Joan turns to movies and thoughts of romance to escape the pressures of her real life. As the girls become women, each follows a path different from what her family expects. But through periods of great happiness and sorrow, the sisters learn that their complicated ties to each other--and to the other members of their close-knit family―are a source of strength as they pursue their separate dreams.
Story
About this book
Joan and Emma Lew are the daughters of a Hong Kong businessman whose family life is disrupted by the Second World War. In the early 1940s the family leaves for Macao and waits out the war years there. When they return, the sisters begin to grow apart. Joan, the elder, is drawn to films and romantic ideals. Emma, encouraged by an independent-minded aunt, looks toward college in San Francisco.
Gail Tsukiyama follows the two women across decades as each moves away from what her family expects. Joan leans toward tradition and thoughts of marriage, yet her interest in cinema opens a different possibility. Emma pursues an artistic and independent life abroad, though distance from Hong Kong carries its own cost. Their bond is tested by separation and by the very different choices each makes.
Around the sisters stands a close family: parents, relatives, and the aunt whose independence shapes Emma's thinking. The novel weaves periods of happiness and loss into that network, and much of its attention falls on how obligations to family sit beside private ambition. Hong Kong and Macao remain reference points as the story moves outward.
