The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club

Summary

Four Chinese women, four America daughters - can they learn to understand each other?

In 1949 a group of Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, meet weekly to play mahjong and tell stories of what they left behind in China. United in loss and new hope for their daughters’ futures, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Their daughters, who have never heard these stories, think their mothers’ advice is irrelevant to their modern American lives – until their own inner crises reveal how much they’ve inherited of their mothers’ pasts.

'Pure enchantment' Mail on Sunday

‘Honest, moving and beautifully courageous’ Alice Walker


'An ambitious saga that's impossible to read without wanting to call your Mum' Stylist

Reviews

  • One of my favorite books. From the moment I first started reading it, I knew it was going to be incredible. For me, it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime reading experiences that you cherish forever
    Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians

About the author

Amy Tan

Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more