Author Claire Chao will give a book talk and presentation featuring beautiful vintage photos and illustrations, this behind-the-scenes look at Isabel and Claire Chao’s journey will be followed by a Q&A. 

Watch on YouTube.

Lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched, the book follows Chao’s family’s history from vibrant Shanghai to the bright lights of Hong Kong. By turns harrowing and heartwarming, this vivid memoir explores identity and loss against the epic backdrop of a country in turmoil.

Winner of 28 literary awards including the Writer’s Digest Grand Prize and Rubery Book Award Book of the Year, Remembering Shanghai follows five generations from imperial China to modern-day Hong Kong. Isabel grows up in the wealthy Sun family in glamorous 1930s Shanghai. When Mao comes to power, she journeys to Hong Kong, unaware that she will never see her father again. She returns to Shanghai with her daughter Claire six decades later to confront their complex past—one they discover is filled with love and betrayal, kidnappers and concubines, glittering pleasure palaces and underworld crime bosses.