Dandelion

By: Jamie Chai Yun Liew

Narrated by: Jennifer Hui

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

When Lily was eleven years old, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family, never to be seen or heard from again. Now a new mother herself, Lily becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Swee Hua. She recalls the spring of 1987, growing up in a small British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families; Lily’s previously stateless father wanted to blend seamlessly into Canadian life, while her mother, alienated and isolated, longed to return to Brunei. Years later, still affected by Swee Hua’s disappearance, Lily’s family is stubbornly silent to her questioning. But eventually, an old family friend provides a clue that sends Lily to Southeast Asia to find out the truth.

Winner of the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award from the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, Dandelion is a beautifully written and affecting novel about motherhood, family secrets, migration, isolation, and mental illness. With clarity and care, it delves into the many ways we define home, identity, and above all, belonging.

©2022 Jamie Chai Yun Liew (P)2022 Bespeak Audio Editions

Critic reviews

“In Dandelion, a woman struggles to understand the mysterious disappearance of her own mother while on the brink of motherhood herself. Rich in imagery detailing the immigrant experience, Jamie Chai Yun Liew’s debut novel picks at the open wound of diasporic displacement with tenderness and compassion.” — Catherine Hernandez, author of Scarborough and Crosshairs

“Jamie Chai Yun Liew’s Dandelion is a poignant portrayal of a woman’s coming of age as a Chinese immigrant trying to set down roots in a small town in British Columbia. In a story relatable to many, as Lily grows up, she awakens to the beauty and brutality of her home in Canada. Meanwhile, her mother retreats and finally leaves, unable to cope with the changing family dynamics of their new life. Dandelion invites readers to imagine multi-generational loss, gain, and love in a fresh take on the mother-daughter narrative. It is at once comfortable and unsettling, raw, and tender.” — Carrianne Leung, author of The Wondrous Woo and That Time I Loved You

“With finely wrought observations and complex characters, Liew captures the subtle nuances of immigration, race, belonging, diaspora, and what it means to be Other. Dandelion is an important debut.” — Lindsay Wong, author of The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family

A true demonstration of the power of story

This beautifully written book is a must read! There is so much knowledge of statelessness both from the legal and personal identity perspectives. I have been struggling with some fiction since the onset of the pandemic but this story lit up my imagination and I felt like is was granted permission to be an observer of the main characters story.

The story and characters were compelling. It was amazing how we really got to know the characters, even if they were not central to the story.

It was was both heart wrenching and light hearted. A true demonstration of the power of story. There were complicated subjects like immigration, mental health, family trauma, and tragedy. There were also light hearted Easter eggs and bits of nostalgia carefully woven through the story. The combination is rich and real and powerful.

I feel like I could write a review on each chapter because they were so compelling and unique. I will be gifting this book to sooo many people.


Also note: the Narrator did an incredible job as well. I will be looking up other books narrated by Jennifer Hui. I hope to find many.