Lisa See biography

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Readalikes

Lisa See

Lisa See

Lisa See Biography

Lisa See was born in Paris in 1955 but grew up in Los Angeles, spending much of her time in Chinatown. She is the daughter of author Carolyn See (described as a "leading literary figure of Southern California" who died in July 2016 aged 82.) Lisa's first book, On Gold Mountain: The One Hundred Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family, was a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book of 1995. The book traces the journey of Lisa's great-grandfather, Fong See, who overcame obstacles at every step to become the 100-year-old godfather of Los Angeles's Chinatown and the patriarch of a sprawling family.

It was while collecting the details of her family history for On Gold Mountain that she developed the idea for her first novel, Flower Net, which was published in 1997. Paramount Pictures bought the films right to this riveting story of a murder investigation in today's China, and foreign rights were sold to fourteen countries. Flower Net was a national bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book of 1997, on the Los Angeles Times Best Books List for 1997, and was rated the top thriller of the year by Amazon.com. Flower Net was also nominated for an Edgar award for best first novel.

In The Interior (published in 2000), Liu Hulan and David Stark, characters first introduced in Flower Net, ferret out a killer (or killers) responsible for a series of murders in China and in the United States, as well as unravel a multi-million dollar international financial scheme with links to the Chinese countryside. At its heart, The Interior is a story about the sometimes blind love between a mother and daughter, the clash of global financial empires, and how the past can sometimes come back to haunt us.

Dragon Bones (Random House, 2003), the third in the Liu Hulan and David Stark series, is set against the building of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangzi River. The novel combines ancient myth and contemporary fears of religious fanaticism and terrorism to tell a story of love, betrayal, history, ecology, and gory murders. Author Ha Jin has said of the book: "Mixing history, myths, and current events, Dragon Bones is an extraordinarily rich novel. It reveals the emotional and economical entanglement of China with the West, and tells a story of violence, lust, greed, fear and desperation. The novel is not only a page turner but is also timely."

In addition to writing books, Ms. See was the Publishers Weekly West Coast Correspondent for thirteen years. As a freelance journalist, her articles have appeared in Vogue, Self, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Washington Post Book World, and TV Guide.

She wrote the libretto for Los Angeles Opera based on On Gold Mountain, which premiered in June 2000 at the Japan American Theatre followed by the Irvine Barclay Theatre. She also served as guest curator for an exhibit on the Chinese American experience for the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, which then traveled to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., in 2001. See then helped develop and curate the Family Discovery Gallery at the Autry Museum, an interactive space for children and their families that focuses on Lisa's bi-racial, bi-cultural family as seen through the eyes of her father as a seven-year-old boy living in 1930's Los Angeles.

She designed a walking tour of Los Angeles Chinatown and wrote the companion guidebook for Angels Walk L.A. to celebrate the opening of the MTA's new Chinatown metro station. She also curated the inaugural exhibition – a retrospective of artist Tyrus Wong – for the grand opening of the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles in the winter of 2003. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a novel about "nu shu," the secret writing developed and used by women in a small county in China for over a thousand years, was published in 2005, and Peony in Love in 2006.

See serves as a Los Angeles City Commissioner on the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Monument Authority. She was honored as National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women in 2001 and was also the recipient of the Chinese American Museum's History Makers Award in Fall 2003.



Bibliography

Nonfiction

  • On Gold Mountain: The 100 Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family (1995)
  • 365 Days in China (2007)

The Red Princess Mysteries

  • The Flower Net (1997)
  • The Interior (1999)
  • Dragon Bones (2003)

May and Pearl

  • Shanghai Girls (2009)
  • Dreams of Joy (2011)

Novels

  • Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005)
  • Peony in Love (2007)
  • China Dolls (2012)
  • The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (2017)
  • The Island of Sea Women (2019)

Lisa See's website

This bio was last updated on 02/13/2019. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Interview

In two separate interviews, Lisa See talks about Peony in Love (2007) and Shanghai Girls (2009).

In two separate interviews, Lisa See talks about Peony in Love (2007) and Shanghai Girls (2009).

Lisa See discusses Shanghai Girls

What inspired you to write Shanghai Girls?

Four things, really. First, I've been collecting Shanghai advertising images from the Twenties, Thirties, and Forties for many years. The so-called Beautiful Girls, women who posed for commercial artists, were right in the heart of the excitement in Shanghai. The charming and captivating life illustrated in advertisements is one thing, but I was interested in seeing what real life was like for those women. I also wanted to write about what it was like for Chinese women who came to America in arranged marriages. (We had a lot of arranged marriages in my family. I know how hard life was for the women. They'd had servants in China, but they lived like servants in America.) Third, I wanted to write about China City, a short-lived tourist attraction in Los Angeles. And finally, I wanted to write about sisters.


What is it about Shanghai that so captures the imagination?

In part it's the juxtaposition of extreme opposites—dire poverty amidst flamboyant wealth, upstanding English gentlemen going to the same nightclubs as...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Books by this Author

Books by Lisa See at BookBrowse
The Island of Sea Women jacket The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane jacket China Dolls jacket On Gold Mountain jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Lisa See but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose readalikes

  • Melanie Benjamin

    Melanie Benjamin

    Melanie Benjamin was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. An avid reader all her life - as a child, she was the proud winner, several years running, of the summer reading program at her local library - she still firmly believes ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    China Dolls

    Try:
    The Girls in the Picture
    by Melanie Benjamin

  • Alan Brennert

    Alan Brennert

    Alan Brennert is a novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. He was born in 1954 in Englewood, New Jersey, to Herbert E. Brennert, an aviation writer, and Almyra E. Brennert, an apartment rentals manager. He has lived since ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Shanghai Girls

    Try:
    Honolulu
    by Alan Brennert

We recommend 42 similar authors

View all 42 Readalikes

Non-members can see 2 results. Become a member
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Become a Member

Join BookBrowse today to start discovering exceptional books!

Find out more


Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Spice Road
    Spice Road
    by Maiya Ibrahim
    Imani is a Shield, a warrior who is renowned for her fighting abilities and for her iron dagger, ...
  • Book Jacket: A Mystery of Mysteries
    A Mystery of Mysteries
    by Mark Dawidziak
    Edgar Allan Poe biographers have an advantage over other writers because they don't have to come up ...
  • Book Jacket: Moonrise Over New Jessup
    Moonrise Over New Jessup
    by Jamila Minnicks
    Jamila Minnicks' debut novel Moonrise Over New Jessup received the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially...
  • Book Jacket
    The Magician's Daughter
    by H.G. Parry
    "Magic isn't there to be hoarded like dragon's treasure. Magic is kind. It comes into ...

Book Club Discussion

Book Jacket
The Nurse's Secret
by Amanda Skenandore
A fascinating historical novel based on the little-known story of America's first nursing school.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The God of Endings
    by Jacqueline Holland

    A suspenseful debut that weaves a story of love, history and myth through the eyes of one immortal woman.

  • Book Jacket

    Once We Were Home
    by Jennifer Rosner

    From the author of The Yellow Bird Sings, a novel based on the true stories of children stolen in the wake of World War II.

Who Said...

When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

R Peter T P P

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.