The Hundred Secret Senses: A Novel

Amy Tan

Penguin, Oct 17, 1995 - Fiction - 368 pages

The "wisest and most captivating novel" (Boston Globe) from the author of the bestselling The Joy Luck Club and The Backyard Bird Chronicles

Set in San Francisco and in a remote village of Southwestern China, Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses is a tale of American assumptions shaken by Chinese ghosts and broadened with hope. In 1962, five-year-old Olivia meets the half-sister she never knew existed, eighteen-year-old Kwan from China, who sees ghosts with her "yin eyes." Decades later, Olivia describes her complicated relationship with her sister and her failing marriage, as Kwan reveals her story, sweeping the reader into the splendor and violence of mid-nineteenth century China. With her characteristic wisdom, grace, and humor, Tan conjures up a story of the inheritance of love, its secrets and senses, its illusions and truths.

About the author

Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Opposite of Fate, Saving Fish from Drowning, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, and two children’s books, The Moon Lady and The Chinese Siamese Cat, which has been adapted as Sagwa, a PBS series for children. Tan was also the co-producer and co-screenwriter of the film version of The Joy Luck Club, and her essays and stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Her work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Tan, who has a master’s degree in linguistics from San Jose University, has worked as a language specialist to programs serving children with developmental disabilities. She lives with her husband in San Francisco and New York.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Hundred Secret Senses: A Novel
• Author: Amy Tan
• Publisher: Penguin, 1995
• ISBN: 1101202947, 9781101202944
• Length: 368 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Asian American; Fiction / Family Life / General; Fiction / Literary