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THE THIRD SON

Julie Wu

A story of yearning, love, and freedom set in post-war occupied Taiwan and the dawn of the American space age.
In the middle of a terrifying air raid in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, Saburo, the least favored son of a Taiwanese politician, runs through a peach field for cover. It’s there that he collides with Yoshiko, whose descriptions of her loving family are to Saburo like a glimpse of paradise. Meeting her is a moment he will remember forever, and for years he will try to find her again. When he finally does, she is by the side of her oldest brother and greatest rival. Set in a tumultuous and violent period of Taiwanese history—as the Chinese Nationalist Army lays claim to the island and one autocracy replaces another—The Third Son is a richly textured story of lives governed by the inheritance of family and the legacy of culture, and of a young man determined to free himself from both. In Saburo, debut author Julie Wu has created an extraordinary character who is determined to fight for everything he needs and wants, from food to education to his first love. A sparkling and moving story, it will have readers cheering for a young boy with his head in the clouds who, against all odds, finds himself on the frontier of America’s space program. The Third Son, was shortlisted for the 2009 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Novel-in-Progress Competition. After graduating from Harvard with a B.A. in Literature, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Julie Wu received an M.D. at Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons. She has received a writing grant from the Vermont Studio Center and had a personal essay published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) in 2010.
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Published 2013-03-01 by Algonquin

Comments

You may have read other Asian American historical novels, but you've never read anything like Julie Wu's affecting and emotional The Third Son. It's one of the don't-miss books of the year. Read more...

The Third Son should be the start of a very successful writing career for Julie Wu, and I hope she will not need long to write her next novel—I’m excited to read it. Read more...

An epic and beautiful debut, Wu had me rooting for her hero right from the very start. The Third Son is a novel of chances and choices, love and loyalty, hope and heartache. A magnificently inspiring story of one man's odyssey to freedom.

This electrifying story of human yearning, perseverance, and love, introduces an unlikely hero who struggles to prevail against the limitations of his birth in embattled midcentury Taiwan. His experiences are authentically foreign, as we see post-WWII America through his eyes, and yet compellingly familiar, as he endures trials of mind, body, and spirit, persevering against brutal circumstances to risk everything for love and for his future. Wu's storytelling is masterful.

A stunningly pure and inspiring love story . . . A deceptively simple, deeply compelling debut. Read more...

This novel has it all: mystery, family, the sweep of history, humor. Once you begin to read the story of Saburo Tong, you won't be able to put it down.

Set in Taiwan during the White Terror era ‘The Third Son’ focuses on sibling rivalry and the healing power of love and is to be published in the US next year Read more...

THE THIRD SON is the “author spotlight” on blog Book Magnet: The Third Son is a rich debut featuring a character who I came to see as family. Saburo is a very special character, one who will steal your heart. Wu’s story is perfect for fans of Samuel Park, Jamie Ford, Janice Y.K. Lee, and Lisa See. Read more...

Wu presents an alluring story that hits all the right emotional buttons and maintains readers’ empathy from the first page to the last.

Saburo is a fighter, and Wu has done a spectacular job of giving us a literary character worth rooting for who, for once, isn’t carrying a magic wand or a handgun. The Third Son is a satisfying read and well worth your time. Read more...

This novel opens with a blast of machine-gun fire, as schoolboy delivers a girl from death during World War II. Julie Wu spins a fable of borders – between childhood and adulthood, Taiwan and America. In deceptively simple prose, Wu evokes the heartache of people caught in the middle.

“The Third Son is a well-written historical novel, an immigration saga that illuminates core differences between two cultures. Those who enjoyed Alan Brennert’s Honolulu or Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic will almost certainly enjoy The Third Son Read more...