The Jade Peony

Wayson Choy's poignant, award-winning debut novel, The Jade Peony, is told from the point of view of three siblings who come of age in Vancouver's Chinatown during the Depression and war years.

Jook-Liang, the family's only girl, and her brothers Jung-Sum and Sek-Lung (nicknamed Sekky) were all born in Canada, but their parents and the rest of the family are recent immigrants. The children grow up torn between the reality of their lives outside the family circle and the old-world traditions that prevail at home.

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The Canada Reads publishers support literacy by donating books to libraries, and the publisher of the winning book makes a financial donation to a national adult literacy organization. This year's recipient is Frontier College's Aboriginal Literacy Program.