Two Incredible Books of Asian American Literature

by MK French

Asian Americans have been increasingly represented in literature. These two books are different; one is humorous fiction and the other is written as a letter, but both are worth reading. Whether you regularly read Asian American literature or are trying to diversify your reading, I don't think you will be disappointed with either of these books.

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Lucky Seed by Justinian Huang

November 2025; MIRA; 978-0778387862
audio, ebook, print (448 pages); humor

The billionaire Sun family of Los Angeles contains power-struggling aunties, emasculated uncles, scheming cousins, scandalous secrets, and a fortune teller on retainer. Their matriarch, Roses Sun, wants a male heir who bears the clan's surname so that her generation won't get punished as "hungry ghosts" in the afterlife. Roses summons her favorite nephew, Wayward, to father a son who will inherit everything. Conflict breaks out, but Wayward hopes to heal the rifts between them and teach his family to finally love one another.

Traditional Chinese culture is patriarchal in the sense that male lineages sustain family lines and girls are expected to be absorbed into their husbands' families. Within the Sun family, there was only one son and three daughters, and that son only had a daughter. While there are male grandchildren, they're not direct patrilineal lines and aren't Suns, so it wouldn't count for family lineage or for the massive trust that is waiting in limbo. Roses is the most cutthroat of her sisters and manipulates them as well as her daughter, nieces, and nephews to maintain her hold over the family. The grandchild generation all have messy relationships with their parents and each other, making things even more complicated. 

As I was reading this, I was reminded of soap operas and the kind of dramas from the 80s like Dynasty or Dallas. I found most of the older characters difficult to like at times, since they were selfish and manipulative even with those they claimed to love. Because of that toxicity, it leaves the grandchildren with little understanding of how to unconditionally love one another. Wayward is probably the closest, and probably only because he would have had a lot of therapy while in rehab. The cousins are used to jockeying for power and privilege, repeating the mistakes the older generation made with each other. Once the wheels were in motion, the second half of the book sucked me in. I wanted to figure out what the Sun cousins were going to do, when the older generation would do something terrible, and then what some of the younger generation would do in retaliation. The final quarter is especially tense, and I had to stay up late to finish the book. The ending is a fitting one for everyone involved.

Buy Lucky Seed at Amazon

Dear Orchid by Carol Van Den Hende

November 2025; Azine Press; 978-1958223062
audio, ebook, print (189 pages); literary letters

This is a literary collection of stories that serve as a love letter to the Asian American experience. They cover the reality of friendship, family, disability, and belonging, and the final chapter features characters from the author's novel Goodbye Orchid.

The book has beautiful, deep lavender edging to match the purple orchids of the front cover, floral designs on each page, and occasionally photos or drawings to add detail to letters and vignettes. They are addressed to "you," which brings the reader closer to the stories. They’re fragments in time, slivers of lives lived by the author or family members. A few stories are based on characters from her novel, which I haven't read, but they still work independently. Some stories are cute, some are tinged with melancholy or nostalgia since they're written years later by an adult looking back. 

I don't usually read literary fiction because the times that I tried, I couldn't connect with the protagonists. Heroes in fiction felt more approachable, even if I didn't live through an apocalypse. Here, maybe because it's so autobiographical, I have no trouble seeing Carol. Her snippets and essays are so intensely personal, I feel like she's having a conversation with me. 

Buy Dear Orchid at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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