Excerpt from A Map of Betrayal by Ha Jin, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"My father mentioned them in his diary. But he spent only a few weeks with Yufeng before he left home. Are you sure they're his children?"

Chu chuckled. "Absolutely. Yufeng gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in the fall of 1949. I told your father about them. The two kids really took after him."

His words, though casually said, struck me, and my cheeks heated up. I had known about my half siblings but questioned their paternity. Something like a wash of shame crept over me as I realized I had unconsciously attempted to distance my half siblings from our father ever since I came to know of their existence. Before saying good-bye, I held Chu's blotchy hand with both of mine and thanked him for speaking to me.

Now I was more determined than ever to find my father's first family.

Excerpted from A Map of Betrayal by Ha Jin. Copyright © 2014 by Ha Jin. Excerpted by permission of Pantheon, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.