Staring into the Sun
Stories from a Chinese American Family 1895-2015

--- Semifinalist, 2025 Autumn House Nonfiction Prize ---England, 2015. Madelyn dreads telling her young children about her mother, who died by suicide decades earlier. But when her child asks about skin tone and eye color, she’s compelled to share the painful truth.A Cantonese village, 1895. Emigrating to America seems inevitable for teenage Song, whose family is starving during a drought. His grandmother tells him about Chinese emigrants’ ordeals and predicts a fate that will bring tragedy upon his descendants.Oakland, 1921. Henri is held responsible for a theft at his brother-in-law’s store. By 1955, he owns the store but resents his business rival, whose philandering son has married Henri’s daughter Corri.San Francisco Bay Area, 1995. Corri relies, perhaps too much, on kindness and spirituality to get her through life. She shares a crucial poem with her granddaughter Madelyn.Staring into the Sun links memoir and the true stories of a Chinese American family. From the reverberations of the Chinese Exclusion Act to the glamour of a millionaire, a magician, and a model, this collection lays bare one family’s tragedies and triumphs.--- PRAISE FOR STARING INTO THE SUN ---“Postman skillfully weaves narration throughout the book and handles difficult topics with sensitivity and grace.” —Chris Lu, former U.S. Ambassador, Deputy Secretary of Labor, White House Cabinet Secretary“Unique, unvarnished, and deeply moving.” —Quil Lawrence, NPR Correspondent and author of Invisible Nation (Walker Books, 2009)“Singularly moving. Postman touches universal chords of grief, belonging, and love. A beautiful book.” —Tessa McWatt, author of Shame on Me (Scribe UK, 2019) and The Snag (Scribe UK, 2025)“A new perspective on the Chinese American experience told with great courage and elegance.” —Hugo Wong, author of America’s Lost Chinese (Hurst, 2023)“A thrilling and visceral read, bright with life and love and hope.” —Wiz Wharton, author of Ghost Girl, Banana (HarperVia, 2023)