Instant New YORK TIMES Bestseller
New york Times notable book of 2021
One of President Obama’s Favorite books of 2021
NPR Best Book of 2021
A TODAY SHOW Read with Jenna Pick
An incandescent memoir from an astonishing new talent, Beautiful Country puts readers in the shoes of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world.
In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of curiosity, she is overwhelmed by crushing fear and scarcity. In China, Qian’s parents were professors; in America, her family is “illegal” and it will require all the determination and small joys they can muster to survive.
In Chinatown, Qian’s parents labor in sweatshops. Instead of laughing at her jokes, they fight constantly, taking out the stress of their new life on one another. Shunned by her classmates and teachers for her limited English, Qian takes refuge in the library and masters the language through books, coming to think of The Berenstain Bears as her first American friends. And where there is delight to be found, Qian relishes it: her first bite of gloriously greasy pizza, weekly “shopping days,” when Qian finds small treasures in the trash lining Brooklyn’s streets, and a magical Christmas visit to Rockefeller Center—confirmation that the New York City she saw in movies does exist after all.
But then Qian’s headstrong Ma Ma collapses, revealing an illness that she has kept secret for months for fear of the cost and scrutiny of a doctor’s visit. As Ba Ba retreats further inward, Qian has little to hold onto beyond his constant refrain: Whatever happens, say that you were born here, that you’ve always lived here.
Inhabiting her childhood perspective with exquisite lyric clarity and unforgettable charm and strength, Qian Julie Wang has penned an essential American story about a family fracturing under the weight of invisibility, and a girl coming of age in the shadows, who never stops seeking the light.
LISTEN TO A SAMPLE of BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY, the author-narrated audiobook
“Incredibly important, exquisitely written… Beautiful Country will make Qian Julie Wang a literary star.”
–Shondaland
Photo credit: Brendan Wixted
QIAN JULIE WANG (pronounced “Chien Joolee Wong”) is a New York Times bestselling author and civil rights litigator. A graduate of Yale Law School and Swarthmore College, Qian Julie is managing partner of Gottlieb & Wang LLP, a firm dedicated to advancing education, disability, and civil rights on behalf of marginalized communities. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and The Cut, and she has appeared on the TODAY Show, MSNBC, and NPR. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two rescue dogs, Salty and Peppers.
Immigrants’ Rights Organizations
If you are looking to support immigrants’ rights or get involved in work in the area, here are just some of the vital organizations in the field. Please note that Qian Julie is not affiliated with the organizations below, which are particularly focused on the undocumented and young immigrant populations: