Madeleine Thien Collections books in order

Q: "How many books are in the Madeleine Thien Collections series?"

"There are one books in the Madeleine Thien Collections series, published in 2001."

Q: "What is the first book in the Madeleine Thien Collections series?"

"The first book in the Madeleine Thien Collections series is Simple Recipes: Stories, published in 2001."

Q: "What is Simple Recipes about?"

"Simple Recipes is a collection of short stories about Malaysian-Canadian immigrant families. The title story follows a girl watching her father teach her brother to cook, and ends in violence. The collection as a whole deals with family, silence, and the difficulty of understanding people you are supposed to know completely."

Reading order

#	Title	Published	Author	Buy on Amazon
1	Simple Recipes: Stories	2001	Madeleine Thien	Buy

Simple Recipes (2001) established Madeleine Thien as a writer with an unusual degree of control for a debut. The stories are quiet and patient, circling around subjects — family silence, cultural displacement, the weight of things left unsaid — without forcing them into resolution. Many center on Malaysian-Canadian families, and several deal with the experience of growing up between cultures.

The title story is perhaps her most anthologized: it takes an ordinary Saturday morning cooking lesson and turns it into something irreversible. The collection as a whole is short, careful, and worth reading in full before moving to her novels.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Madeleine Thien Collections series?

There are one books in the Madeleine Thien Collections series, published in 2001.

What is the first book in the Madeleine Thien Collections series?

The first book in the Madeleine Thien Collections series is Simple Recipes: Stories, published in 2001.

What is Simple Recipes about?

Simple Recipes is a collection of short stories about Malaysian-Canadian immigrant families. The title story follows a girl watching her father teach her brother to cook, and ends in violence. The collection as a whole deals with family, silence, and the difficulty of understanding people you are supposed to know completely.

Reading order#

Frequently Asked Questions

Reading order