Homeseeking: A GMA Book Club Pick

Reviews

A BookBub Best Book of Winter
A Reader’s Digest Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A December Book of the Month Pick
A Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick
A Vogue Best Book of the Year
A People Most Anticipated Book of the Year
An Apple Books Pick
An Amazon Best Literature and Fiction Pick
A Roxane Gay Book Club Pick
A TODAY.com Book We Can’t Wait to Read This Year
A Chicago Review of Books Must Read Book
A Book Bub Most Anticipated Book of the Year

"Karissa Chen's debut novel weaves expertly between present and past, telling the story of childhood sweethearts who meet again late in life and are torn between looking back and moving on. A kaleidoscopic yet intimate view of the Chinese diaspora, HOMESEEKING explores how identities flex and and transform during war--and which fundamental parts of us remain the same no matter where we find ourselves."
– Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere

“Epic, assured, and beautifully drawn, HOMESEEKING is a love story that reveals the effects of war and history on the lives of individuals. Karissa Chen has created a world that’s deeply absorbing, following Suchi and Haiwen across decades, borders, and lifetimes.”
—Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers“The epic sweep of Karissa Chen’s debut, Homeseeking, spans borders, oceans, decades, and wars to unfurl the tale of childhood sweethearts whose fates are bound together from their time as neighbors in Japan-occupied Shanghai. Vivid historical detail brings alive the settings, from 1960s Hong Kong to late-2000s Los Angeles—where the characters reconnect. Panoramic in scope, the novel illustrates how lives among the Chinese diaspora are buffeted by history and geopolitics.”
—Vogue

“This sweeping, ambitious novel about the meaning of home and the power of memory follows a pair of separated lovers, Haiwen and Suchi, through six decades of Chinese history as war, famine and chance bring them to Hong Kong, Taiwan, New York, California and many places — and circumstances — along the way.”
—People

"[A] poignant debut...The novel’s scope is ambitious…Through her characters’ ranging sensibilities, Chen examines the psychological aftershocks of war….History and fate, displacement and separation. These are grand topics, but through Suchi and Haiwen’s quests for belonging amid insurmountable conflict, Homeseeking captures the enduring and unexpected ways these larger forces impact individual lives."
—New York Times Book Review

“Those waiting to read one of the best books of 2025 don’t have to wait long. Homeseeking, by Karissa Chen, has arrived on the scene early — and it’s a towering achievement in storytelling…When people use the terms “sweeping” and “epic,” which absolutely describe this book, it is implied that there is a payoff after a long wait, but in Homeseeking, the payoff is in the small intimate moments between the two protagonists and their interconnected journeys…Chen masterfully packs in a considerable amount of history without overtaking the characters’ lives and stories, and her willingness to have characters flip back and forth between various languages further drives home the biggest takeaway the novel has to offer: Identity is always shifting. Yet, these shifting identities are perhaps why Chen’s characters never stop seeking their true home…an impactful love story, told against the backdrop of historical events, as well as one of the best debut novels of this century.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“[W]onderfully cinematic, gorgeously orchestrated…Suchi and Haiwen’s intimate and heart-stoking love story…is surely what propels the book’s narrative forward. But it’s not what makes Homeseeking so affecting. Like any tried-and-true epic…the reason Homeseeking is ultimately so successful is because of Chen’s talent for seamlessly blending her characters’ deeply nuanced personal stories with far-reaching historical events to explore universal themes about the human condition: love and loss, sacrifice and regret, hope and renewal…Even at more than 500 pages, not a sentence of this book feels wasted.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“[A] sweeping epic…Heartbreaking and hopeful in turns, Homeseeking is about the love of home and family, even against unimaginable circumstances.”
—Good Housekeeping

“Chen’s ability to navigate effortlessly across cultures and eras reflects not only the depth of her research, but also her natural gifts as a storyteller…an auspicious debut.”
—BookPage (starred)

“This book is starting 2025 with a buzz.”
—Book Riot

“From heart-wrenching regrets to breathtaking redemptions, Chen’s debut novel seamlessly crosses geographical, cultural, and temporal barriers to deliver a love story that touches all extremes of the human condition…. A compelling page-turner, Homeseeking offers a strong sense of longing for characters who wish to return, to change, to ask, ‘Do you ever wonder what our lives would have been like, if only?’”
—Booklist

“Homeseeking is intimate in its focus on a single couple but sweeping in its universal truths about how lives are forever changed by war.”
—Reader’s Digest

“Homeseeking is a layered, beautifully written, and deeply moving novel. Karissa Chen masterfully blends love, music, history, and heartbreak to create a sweeping tale that spans decades and continents. The novel captures the resilience of the human spirit and the bittersweet reality of the immigrant experience. It’s more than just a love story; it’s a profound reflection on the impact of history, migration, and identity – one that explores the tension between holding on to the past and embracing the future, revealing both the pain and grace of finding where we truly belong.”
—Abi Daré, New York Times bestselling author of Girl With the Louding Voice

“Fans of historical fiction will want to pick up this exceptional novel immediately…”
—Los Angeles Times

"An absolute stunner of a debut. Chen nimbly tackles too often overlooked history in an exploration of surviving the trauma of war and loss of home. Homeseeking is a novel that asks if those who survive by moving forward and those who sustain by looking back can ever truly meet. At its heart, this is an impressive work of language, place, history, and all the tenuous ties that define who we are. Karissa Chen has created an elegant saga of soul and history, and proven herself a writer to watch."
—Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation

“Rich in history and emotion, Homeseeking offers a captivating glimpse into how personal and political forces shape our lives and connections.”
—BiblioLifeStyle

"Sweeping, epic, yet deeply intimate, Homeseeking traces a pair of first loves and the gossamer thread that binds them across six decades and four nations as the world splits them apart, again and again. A spellbinding meditation on family, immigration, and the many faces of courage in times of hardship, this is a dazzling debut."
— Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit

“In this sweeping and heart-rending debut, Chen brings to life more than 60 years of Chinese history through the tale of childhood sweethearts separated by war and reunited decades later in America….Chen scales the heights of her ambition.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Chen illuminates the parallels and relationships among key moments in China’s recent history. Intertwining the macro and micro, she makes readers care deeply about the impact of history on her characters’ very private lives…. This is historical fiction at its most effective. Romantic lyricism and hard-edged realism merge in this compelling novel.”
–Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“A love story in more ways than one, Homeseeking is a beautiful, nuanced look at Chinese history, family, young love, and the wisdom of age. As Suchi and Haiwen do their best to survive their lives, we follow them across the circumstances and choices that continually separate them— and bring them back together— even as their worlds keep changing. By the end I was in tears. Remarkable.”
—Vanessa Chan, internationally bestselling author of The Storm We Made

“In Homeseeking, Karissa Chen brings a rare delicacy to the pain of history, exploring what it means for generations to be simultaneously imprisoned by and separated from the past. Her characters linger with desperate vividness in each other's memories--as they long will in her readers' imaginations.”
—Elizabeth Kostova, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Historian, The Swan Thieves, and The Shadow Land

“A tender and captivating story about fate and loss, hope and love, expertly intertwined with modern Chinese history. Uniquely told through two lovers whose perspectives begin at opposite ends of their timelines, Karissa Chen's beautiful debut will take your heart on a journey!”
—Eve J. Chung, USA Today bestselling author of Daughters of Shandong

“Spanning both lifetimes and moving from Hong Kong to Taiwan to California, this is a story of family, love, and loyalty.”
—Alta

"Karissa Chen is a brilliant and patient storyteller, weaving the entwined histories of two unforgettable characters separated and reunited across time and distance in this tender, riveting novel. Chen's lush descriptions and rich historical details offer much for readers to see and hear and imagine as we follow Suchi and Haiwen from their Shanghai neighborhood to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Los Angeles. A sweeping, poignant work of history, memory, and survival, Homeseeking is an enduring love story and a debut to treasure."
—Nicole Chung, author of A Living Remedy

"Through its glittering and heartrending depictions of war, forced movement, broken love stories, and the tumultuous Chinese-Taiwanese 20th century, this spellbinding debut ingeniously captures the paradox of the immigrant experience: doggedly looking forward while uncontrollably looking back."
—Juliet Grames, author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna

“Historical and romantic, Chen’s debut is a panoramic story about recapturing, and outrunning, the past. Emotions pour over on every page while characters you will grow to cherish navigate intimacy across place and time.”
—Debutiful

“Homeseeking is a perfect love song, beautiful and poignant and tender and sad. A tour de force of storytelling and a book with real faith in the human heart, with all its immense capacity for both love and hatred. Read it. It will make time stand still. Karissa Chen is the writer we’ve been waiting for, and Homeseeking is a must read.”
—Matthew Salesses, author of The Sense of Wonder Expand reviews