Midnight at the Dragon Cafe

I just finished reading Midnight at the Dragon Cafe, a first novel by Judy Fong Bates. It is a lovely and sad novel, written as a memoir of a Su-Jen, or "Annie", who comes to Canada from China with her mother, at an early age. They move to a small town outside of Toronto, where her father has been running a Chinese and Canadian food restaurant. The book, set in the 60s, deals with the Su-Jen's experiences as the only Chinese child in town, at the same time coping with what turns out to be a complex and twisted family situation. Su-Jen becomes fluent in English and lives very much in the world of English-speaking Canadians, but at home, her parents are isolated by their limited English language skills. Su-Jen walks a line between the two cultures.

The first chapter of the book is available here.