DAUGHTER OF HEAVEN PA

by LI,LESLIE

• ISBN13: 9781611456950
• ISBN10: 1611456959
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781628722482
• Edition: 00
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2013-01-17
• Publisher: FRWHEEL

Summary

Inthis powerful, touching memoir of a critically acclaimed Chinese-Americanwriter, taste becomes the keeper of memory and food the keeper of culture whenNai-nai, her extraordinary grandmother, arrives from mainland China. LeslieLi's paternal grandfather, Li Zogren, was China's first democratically electedvice president, to whom Chiang Kai-shek left control of the country when hefled to Formosa in 1949. Nine years later, Li's wife, Nai-nai, comes to livewith her son's family in New York City, bringing a whole new world of sights,smells, and tastes as she quickly takes control of the kitchen. Nai-nai'stantalizingly exotic cooking opens up the heart and mind of her Americangranddaughter to her Chinese heritage-and to the world. Through her grandmother'straditional cuisine Leslie bridges the cultural divide in an America in whichshe is a minority-as well as the growing gap at home between her rigid,traditional Chinese father and her progressive American-born mother.Interspersed throughout her intimate and moving memoir are the author'spersonal recipes, most from Nai-nai's kitchen, that add a delicious dimensionto the work. A loving ode to family and food, Daughter of Heaven is an exquisite blend of memory, history, andthe senses.