A single choice can define an entire life.

Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in sixty years. To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back.

Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighborhood, drawn by the sound of his violin. Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me.

Homeseeking follows the separated lovers through six decades of tumultuous Chinese history as war, famine, and opportunity take them separately to the song halls of Hong Kong, the military encampments of Taiwan, the bustling streets of New York, and sunny California, telling Haiwen’s story from the present to the past while tracing Suchi’s from her childhood to the present, meeting in the crucible of their lives. Throughout, Haiwen holds his memories close while Suchi forces herself to look only forward, neither losing sight of the home they hold in their hearts.

This book contains scenes that depict sexual assault and mentions of suicidal ideation and miscarriage.

I am a firm believer that books are best enjoyed on a comfy couch, accompanied by tea. So, when I found that I couldn’t help but open Homeseeking on the subway, desperate to see how the pieces of the novel would come together, I knew it was an exceptional read. Homeseeking is delicate, grand, and harmonious. I never wanted it to end and, immediately after I finished the book, I wished I could read it again for the first time.

People say that first loves always linger. That is certainly the case for Suchi and Haiwen. They strike up a friendship in their first grade class in Shanghai and spend their teenage years plotting the rest of their lives together. But as China descends deeper into war, Haiwen leaves Suchi behind to enlist. The invisible string connecting them seemingly breaks that day, but, sixty years later, it brings Suchi and Haiwen back together in a LA grocery store.

Homeseeking covers vast territory, transporting us from Asia to the United States over the span of decades. It is also a vulnerable account of two intertwined lives, exploring how we find comfort in places, people, ourselves, and our stories. I can say with certainty that I found a little slice of home in this book. Like Suchi and Haiwen’s relationship, it is a story that will stay with me for a very long time.