Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

★★★☆☆

Peach Blossom Spring starts in 1938 China, when Meilin and her four-year-old son Renshu are forced to flee their home, as war promises to devastate everything they have known. With little money but a beautiful, illustrated scroll, they escape the country and find a new home in Taiwan. Years later, Renshu is offered a place at an American university, where he becomes Henry and refuses to talk about his past.

The book covers decades of Meilin’s and Renshu’s lives, as they grow apart due to the distance that separates them and Henry’s refusal to acknowledge or talk about his past. At first, Henry’s concerns about speaking against China feels right, as he sees fellow Chinese citizens in the US being forcibly returned to China, but as the years go past, his fears turn into a paranoia that makes it hard to like the character. On the other hand, the much more interesting Meilin is left in Taiwan, and we only see her a couple of times after Renshu moves away – which is a shame as there was so much potential in her character. 

Peach Blossom Spring is a beautifully written multi-generational historical fiction, with the best parts centred on Meilin’s efforts to give her the son the best opportunities she can. She was the heart of the book and once the focus moves away from her, it’s hard to stay as interested in the story. Renshu’s story is understandably complex, but ultimately, he becomes a character that is hard to root for, until we get to the closing stages of the book.