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Beautiful Country

A Memoir of an Undocumented Childhood

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Beautiful Country

Written by: Qian Julie Wang
Narrated by: Qian Julie Wang
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Hunger was a constant, reliable friend in Mei Guo. She came second only to loneliness.

In China, she was the daughter of professors. In Brooklyn, her family is illegal.

Qian is just seven when she moves to America, the 'Beautiful Country', where she and her parents find that the roads of New York City are not paved with gold, but crushing fear and scarcity. Unable to speak English at first, Qian and her parents must work wherever they can to survive, all while she battles hunger and loneliness at school. Thus begins an extraordinary story that describes, in vivid colours, days labouring in sweatshops and sushi factories, nights scavenging the streets for furniture and the terrifying moment when the family emerges from the shadows to seek emergency medical treatment for Qian's mother.

Qian Julie Wang's memoir is an unforgettable account of what it means to live under the perpetual threat of deportation and the small joys and sheer determination that kept her family afloat in a new land. Told from a child's perspective, in a voice that is intimate, poignant and startlingly lyrical, Beautiful Country is the story of a girl who learns first to live - and then escape - an invisible life.

©2021 Qian Julie Wang (P)2021 Penguin Audio Biographies & Memoirs

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Profile image for Kalpana Misra

Lucid, beautiful and moving

Qian Julie Wang is a gifted writer and the story she tells about her life is moving beyond words. She says so much by simply presenting the facts, without a comment. She is never reproachful or resentful but wise beyond her years. I'm so glad I chose the audio book over the written word so that I could listen to the sweet sound of spoken Chinese - Mandarin Chinese. Qian is an extraordinary writer.

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