The Girl From Purple Mountain

The co-authors talked about their book, The Girl from Purple Mountain: Love, Honor, War, and One Family’s Journey from China to America, published by Thomas Dunne Books. The book is about their Chinese family and notably its matriarch, Ruth Chai. The two took turns reading excerpts from the book to highlight the life of Winberg’s mother and Chai-lee’s grandmother. Ruth was born in China, educated at a Chinese university and during the Sino-Japanese War, she, her husband and three sons continually moved from city to Chinese city, enduring many hardships. Afterward, the family moved to the United States for a more peaceful life. The authors discussed their efforts to better understand their family and its roots by writing the book, including the process of writing the book together as father and daughter, and the years of research involved. They took questions at the end of the program from members of the audience. close