Homeseeking

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen is a historical fiction romance novel about the couple Wang Haiwen and Zhang Suchi. It follows their lives from the Second Sino-Japanese War through World War II to their immigration to the United States decades later. Haiwen and Suchi spend their childhood growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Shanghai. Haiwen and Suchi are separated when Haiwen leaves to fight in the Chinese Civil War when he is 16. Soon after, Suchi and her sister are sent as refugees to Hong Kong. Haiwen and Suchi spend the rest of their lives searching for each other, family, and home until they reunite 60 years later in Los Angeles, California. Homeseeking is Chen’s debut novel and a Good Morning America Book Club pick. It explores themes of The Search for Belonging and Home, The Impact of Geopolitical Events on Individual Lives, and The Enduring Nature of Love. 

This guide refers to the 2025 G. P. Putnam’s Sons edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, child death, rape, racism, child abuse, illness, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, antigay bias, gender discrimination, sexual content, and cursing.

Plot Summary

The narrative of Homeseeking largely alternates between Haiwen’s and Suchi’s perspectives. Suchi’s story is told chronologically, while Haiwen’s is told in reverse chronological order. The following summary recounts the events in chronological order.

One day, Suchi is exploring her neighborhood in Shanghai when she sees a small boy playing violin in a courtyard. On her first day of school, after it reopens following the resolution of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Suchi meets Haiwen, the boy she saw playing violin. He is a shy, quiet boy whom the other boys tease. Suchi tells the boys off and shares her lunch with Haiwen. Suchi begins to spend time at Haiwen’s house after school and enjoys listening to him play. When Suchi’s mother finds out about it, she beats Suchi for spending time alone with a boy. However, over the years, Suchi and Haiwen grow even closer.

As a teenager, Haiwen becomes a gifted violinist. He is anxious about an upcoming audition for a music conservatory, so Suchi takes him to see a fortune teller to reassure him. The fortune teller tells them that they have a special connection. Sometime later, the Japanese surrender, and Suchi rushes to tell Haiwen. On their way back home, Haiwen grows concerned about protecting Suchi when he sees a mob beating a Japanese collaborator. Touched by his feelings, Suchi kisses him. They date for about two years. 

Haiwen becomes exceptionally focused on preparing a complicated piece for his audition and begins to neglect Suchi. To make it up to her, he agrees to take her out on a date for her birthday, but he doesn’t pick her up. Suchi goes to his house, and Haiwen tells her that the nationalist government beat his father because he had dealings with a communist spy. As punishment, the nationalists intend to draft Haiwen’s older brother into the military. Haiwen overhears Suchi telling her mother how important family is to Haiwen. This, and the fact that his sister-in-law is pregnant, lead Haiwen to decide to take his brother’s place in the military.

A month later, Haiwen takes Suchi out. He plays her a song he learned just for her. She proposes marriage, and he refuses. The next day, he leaves his violin on her doorstep and ships out with the military. Suchi is devastated. Haiwen fights for the Nationalist Army and ends up stationed in Taiwan. A few years later, Suchi and her sister, Sulan, are sent to live in Hong Kong by their father to protect them from fighting between the communists and nationalists in Shanghai. In 1949, the communists take over China, severing contact between Haiwen, Suchi, and their families. 

Suchi gets a job working as a waitress in a club to earn money to pay for her sister’s medical treatments for multiple sclerosis. One of the clients, Saikeung, a wealthy, middle-aged businessman, takes an interest in Suchi. She attempts to rebuff his advances, but he is persistent. One day, he proposes. She deflects, but a month later, he comes back and rapes Suchi. He takes this as proof that they will get married. Suchi still intends to back out, but she is forced to take Sulan to the expensive British medical clinic for treatment. When Saikeung pays the medical bill, Suchi realizes that she will now have to marry him. Soon after, she learns that she is pregnant with her son, Samson. Meanwhile, Haiwen meets Linyee, who works at a food stall, and they get married. Haiwen works for a fabric manufacturer who sends him to Hong Kong on a business trip. While there, he runs into Suchi, who is moments away from dying by suicide by throwing herself overboard on a ferry. They reconnect, and Suchi gives him his violin back. They have sex.

Years later, Haiwen moves to Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters. He reconnects with his siblings and learns that both of his parents are dead. His sister tells him that their mother was calling for him when she was on her deathbed. Meanwhile, Suchi focuses on raising her son in Hong Kong. Her sister, Sulan, moves to New York, becomes a fashion designer, and lives with her partner, a Japanese woman named Momo. Haiwen goes to the fashion label to sell them some fabric and recognizes Sulan. She urges him to contact Suchi to save her from her abusive marriage, but Haiwen is devoted to his wife, Linyee, and does not. When her son is 19, Suchi goes with him to Los Angeles to help him settle in at the University of Southern California. While there, she resolves not to return to her husband in Hong Kong and to instead stay in the United States. Sulan dies about a decade later of her illness.

When they are both in their seventies in Los Angeles, Haiwen and Suchi run into each other at the grocery store and again later at a birthday party. Suchi introduces Haiwen to her family, but she is angry when Haiwen insists on talking about the past. Sometime later, Haiwen tells her that he found her mother, who is still alive in a care home in Shanghai. Samson learns this as well and confronts Suchi for not making an effort to see her mother. She tells him that she has not because she is ashamed. Samson comforts her. Haiwen and Suchi reconcile. In the final scene, Haiwen, Suchi, and Samson are on an airplane to Shanghai to see Suchi’s mother.