Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On Gold Mountain | 1995 | Lisa See | Buy |
On Gold Mountain (1995) is Lisa See’s non-fiction account of her own Chinese American family history. The book traces the story of her great-grandfather Fong See, who came to America from China in the 1870s and established a prominent antiques store in Los Angeles’s Chinatown. The family history spans over a century and multiple generations.
The book was See’s first published work and established the themes she would continue to explore in her novels: Chinese American identity, family bonds across cultures, and the ways that immigration and racism shaped individual lives. On Gold Mountain provides the real-life foundation for much of See’s later fiction.