The Strength of Water: An Asian American Coming of Age Memoir
Karin K. Jensen
Sibylline Digital First: 2025
Paperback: New
9798897409709
This reverse-immigration story tells of her mother, King Ying, who begins life in 1920s Detroit in her father's Chinese laundry business, where she longs for a real home and struggles to reconcile what passes for normal in Jazz-Age America with her father's vastly different cultural values.
In 1920s Detroit, King Ying lives in a small apartment behind her parents' laundry business, where she stands on a box to iron clothes, endures taunts of "Ching-Ching Chinaman" on the playground, and tries to reconcile what passes for normal in Jazz Age America with her father's vastly different cultural values.
She dreams of a real home, the elegance of her Jane Arden paper dolls, and winning her stern father's affection. But when Ba incurs steep debts during the Great Depression, he sends her far from hope to live in his ancestral village.
In remote Tai Ting Pong, in the Guangdong Province of China, she feels as foreign in the land of her heritage as in the country of her birth. She must survive hunger, dangerous superstitions, and Japanese invasion as the Sino-Japanese War begins.
When guardian angels help her return to the U.S., it's a chance to seize her American dream. In this inspiring and heartfelt memoir, Karin K. Jensen records her mother's transpacific quest for identity, survival, and new world dreams.
Contributor Bio:Jensen, Karin K
Karin K. Jensen is a local news writer for the Alameda Post and the debut author of The Strength of Water: An Asian American Coming-of-Age Memoir, which made the Kirkus Reviews annual list of best indie books published and won awards from The BookFest, International Book Awards, and the San Francisco Book Festival. She has won NewsBreak editorial awards, including on the topics of #StopAsianHate and #AAPI Voices. For her work, Authority Magazine named her a social impact author. She makes her home in California.