Consider this remarkable memoir a new classic. While Wang’s story of pursuing the American dream is undoubtedly timeless, it’s her family’s triumph in the face of “xenophobia and intolerance” that makes it feel especially relevant today. With immense skill, she parses how her family’s illegal status blighted nearly every aspect of their life, from pushing her parents’ marriage to the brink to compromising their health. During her five years in the States-“shrouded in darkness while wrestling with hope and dignity”-Wang managed to become a star student. “Pushing past hunger pains,” they took menial jobs to support Wang, who worked alongside her mother in a sweatshop before starting school at age seven. 'ExtraordinaryWith immense skill, Wang parses how her family’s illegal status blighted nearly every aspect of their life. An eloquent, thought-provoking and touching memoir - Jean Kwok, author of Girl in Translation and Searching for Sylvie Lee Powerful. 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. Wangs searing exploration reveals how she and her family were forced to navigate the yawning cracks in the American Dream. This fueled her father’s desire to find a better life in America, the “Beautiful Country.” In China, Wang’s parents were professors, but upon arriving in New York City in 1994, their credentials were meaningless. Beautiful Country rings with power and authenticity. Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City.

In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to beautiful country. During China’s Cultural Revolution, her uncle was thrown in prison for criticizing Mao Zedong, leaving his parents and younger brother, Wang’s father, to pay for his “treasonous” ways in the form of public beatings and humiliation. 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 this extraordinary debut, civil rights lawyer Wang recounts her years growing up as an undocumented immigrant living in “the furtive shadows” of America.

Beautiful country a memoir