Introduction

A stunning story of love, betrayal, and family, set against the backdrop of a changing Taiwan over the course of the twentieth century.

February 28, 1947: Trapped inside the family home amid an uprising that has rocked Taipei, Dr. Tsai delivers his youngest daughter, the unnamed narrator of Green Island, just after midnight as the city is plunged into martial law. In the following weeks, as the Chinese Nationalists act to crush the opposition, Dr. Tsai becomes one of the many thousands of people dragged away from their families and thrown into prison. His return, after more than a decade, is marked by alienation from his loved ones and paranoia among his community—conflicts that loom over the growing bond he forms with his youngest daughter. Years later, this troubled past follows her to the United States, where, as a mother and a wife, she too is forced to decide between what is right and what might save her family—the same choice she witnessed her father make many years before.  

As the novel sweeps across six decades and two continents, the life of the narrator shadows the course of Taiwan’s history from the end of Japanese colonial rule to the decades under martial law and, finally, to Taiwan’s transformation into a democracy. But, above all, Green Island is a lush and lyrical story of a family and a nation grappling with the nuances of complicity and survival, raising the question: how far would you be willing to go for the ones you love?

Editorial Review

An Amazon Best Book of February 2016: Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan is a moving and enthralling exploration of family, betrayal, survival, and cultural identity as told through the history of one Taiwanese family. Dr. Tsai is a revered and wealthy doctor, but when he speaks out after the February 28 Massacre, the anti-government uprising in Taiwan, his life and that of his family will be forever changed. Missing for a decade, his family struggles to endure. Told from the perspective of his youngest daughter, the Tsai family and thousands of others negotiate the suspicion and violence that lurks in every doorway. As she grows up, becoming first a wife and then a mother in California, she once again bears witness to the violent tentacles of her father’s legacy and her own family’s wellbeing is threatened when her husband speaks his mind. Fraught with treachery, love, and the desire to do what is right, Green Island tells an unforgettable story of a family caught in the middle of Taiwan’s complicated history as it transitioned from colonial rule to Martial Law to a democracy. Rendered with taut emotion, Shawna Yang Ryan explores the heartbreaking decisions parents make to save their families. -- Al Woodworth

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