Author Reading from New Taiwan-Based Novel “Green Island”

Come and hear Shawna Yang Ryan read from her brand new novel, Green Island.

Green Island is a story of love, betrayal, and family, set against the backdrop of a changing Taiwan in the twentieth century.

February 28, 1947—Trapped inside the family home amidst an uprising that has rocked Taipei, Dr. Tsai delivers his youngest daughter, the unnamed narrator of Green Island. In the following weeks, as the Chinese Nationalists act to crush the opposition, Dr. Tsai becomes one of the many thousands of people dragged away from their families and into prison. His return, after more than a decade, is marked by alienation from his loved ones and paranoia among his community—conflicts that loom over the growing bond he forms with his youngest daughter. Years later, this troubled past follows her to the United States, where, as a mother and a wife, she too is forced to decide between right and what might save her family–the same choice she witnessed her father make many years before.

In a story that sweeps across six decades and two continents, Green Island traces the course of Taiwan’s history, from the end of Japanese colonial rule, to the decades under martial law, and finally to Taiwan’s transformation into a democracy. This lush, lyrical novel depicts a family and a nation grappling with the nuances of complicity and survival, raising the question: How far would you be willing to go for the ones you love?