Disappearing Moon Cafe

Disappearing Moon Cafe, SKY Lee, Seal Press, 1990

Set in Vancouver, this is a multi-generational tale of the Wong family. Part of it revolves around Lee Mui Lan, the no-nonsense family matriarch, who runs the Disappearing Moon Cafe, the biggest Chinese restaurant in 1920's Vancouver. Her son, Choy Fuk, has been married for the last 5 years to Fong Mei, a young woman newly emigrated from China who works at the restaurant. She has been unable to bear him a son, a constant source of conflict between the women and between Fong Mei and her husband. Mui Lan sends him to one of the waitresses at the restaurant, a woman who lives alone in a tarpaper shack, and who bears him a son, whom she raises. Shoy Fuk and Fong Mei do have several children of their own, including a daughter. Years later, when Fong Mei has become the family matriarch, the daughter and the son of the waitress plan to marry, until they learn the truth.

This isn't a very quick read, but it is very much worth it. Here is a pasionate and moving story about being somewhere in the middle between two cultures, and is a worthy addition to the fiction world.