I love reading and learning about Asian culture and its rich history. China certainly has no shortage of either! When you mix that with the genealogy of a family, you’ve got my interest. Growing up, I listened to my mother’s stories of our ancestors as she uncovered their secrets while studying our family tree. While there are no Chinese branches on mine, there is a wonderful Asian twist that has given me a lifelong fascination with the Orient. That’s why books like Sweet Mandarin always manage to grab me and hang on.
Sweet Mandarin is more than a true story. It is several true stories all woven into one amazing family history that is author Helen Tse’s. Starting with the story of her great grandparents, it works its way from generation to generation, giving a beautiful account of what makes her family unique. Helen Tse’s family history contains a long line of fascinating people who struggled to work their way out of difficult situations, regardless of what they were “supposed” to do. The story starts with a great grandfather who began his own soy sauce factory and the family that suffered the consequences of his success. The bulk of the focus is on the women in Tse’s family; strong, brave women who break the bonds of China’s traditions, all the while coveting their culture like a valuable pearl. Tse’s family boasts three generations of restaurant owners, all having stories that will inspire and entertain.
Sweet Mandarin is a book that will appeal to a very wide audience – men, women, even young adult. Will it ever appear on the silver screen? I wouldn’t be surprised, and I certainly hope to hear there’s a movie contract in the works. And I thought my family was fascinating…
Want to win your own copy of Sweet Mandarin?
3 Ways to Win:
1.) Leave a comment telling me a little something about your family history. (I promise I won’t tell.) Where are you from? Do you know your roots, or are they a secret? Have fun with your comment! Winners are randomly chosen, but if the name drawn doesn’t respond, I choose the next winner by comment.
2.) Email subscribers are entered into this and all future giveaways, for as long as their subscription is active. Simply place your email address in the little white box at the top of my sidebar on the right. (Please make sure to verify your Feedburner subscription by responding to the email they send you. If you don’t receive it, check your junk mail. Only verified subscriptions are entered for all the giveaways.)
3.) Blog about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to this post. Come back and leave me a Comment with a link to your blog post.
Do all three, and you’ve got three entries to win! You have until midnight EST on Friday, September 5, 2008, to enter.
oh I would love to get my hands on this one!!
family history? well, I am a mutt..Ireland,Iceland, Italy, and France. Not any secrets that I know of!!! 
hmmm lots of family secrets but if I told you they wouldn’t be secrets….my family is mixed on one side from poland, holland, and came to ellis island..the other half came on the myflower many years before
Sounds like a great book!!!
would love to read this! Xie Xie!
i don’t know much about my family history other than most of my grandparents generation is from Tennessee.
My Great Great Aunt traced my father’s roots back to Germany. I have all of the old newspaper clippings, etc. It’s a great thing to know.
gkstratos@yahoo.com
I don’t know a lot about my family history. I do know that a person on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family was a witch who was hanged in the Salem Witch Trials. I also know that my maternal grandmother’s side established the town of Walkerville in Illinois.
[...] 2, 2008 If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Where: carp(e) libris reviews What: Sweet Mandarin by Helen Tse How To Enter: Leave a comment on the giveaway/contest post [...]
My mother’s side is British, my Grandpa was born in Saskatchewan, Canada and my Grandma was born in England. My father (who has never lived with me) was adopted into a Scandinavian family but was originally Romanian.
As far as I know we have no one famous or anything
My Dad’s family is Sicilian on his dads side, and english on the other side. My great grandfather was from Palermo, Sicily and came to Louisiana then to Texas. My grandfather was born in the US and so on. My moms family is Alsacian (french german) on her dads side and they were glassblowers. My moms moms side was english too. So I’m half English 1/4 Sicilian, and 1/4 Alsacian. Though I look 100% Italian. Great giveaway, thanks!
we are Irish to the bone!
What a wonderful giveaway. I think that it is so important and meaningful to know your roots and background. For genetics and for your descendents as well. We are Eastern European Jews. Ashkenazi Jews who came over many years ago.
mostly german on my dad’s side, mostly english on my mom’s. that’s right – we’re really really white.
I am Australian – of Irish/Welsh descent
To know the generations of time and the reality as a woman.
My dad’s side is from Hungary – my mom’s side is a strange mix of English, Irish French Canadian. The most confusing part to me is that I may or may not have Native blood. No one has straight answers when that comes up.
Thanks for the offer of a fascinating-sounding book! My background is mostly Scottish, German, Welsh, and a little bit of Cherokee. Most branches of the family have been in the U.S. since before the it was the U.S. Our traditions are what most people consider “American” and “Southern”, but my father was military, so we ate food from all over the world growing up, and added new things everywhere we lived.
For the longest time I only knew half of my family history because my mom was adopted. A few years ago my mom got a copy of her birth certificate and last year finally asked me to research her birth family. Since we knew her birth mother’s name, it only took me two weeks to find her information. Unfortunately she passed away about ten years ago. We were able to determine from the obituary that she had a half-brother and half-sister living near us. A few months later we met with my mom’s siblings, and it was a joyous reunion. They actually knew about her,and had talked about searching for her but they didn’t have enough information to pursue it. Since then, my mom has been filled in on her genealogy and family history(at least on her mom’s side). So now I know that I am: English, Scottish and German from my dad’s side and English (and who knows what else) from my mom’s side.
This sounds like a lovely book.
I don’t know anything about my maternal side of the family (my biological mother abandoned me when I was a toddler). I do know some about my paternal side.
My paternal great-grandmother came to the US from Norway. Her name was Margit Mattesan. They couldn’t pronounce her name at Ellis Island so they changed it to Margaret Olsen. She then went on to marry a man with the last name Larsen only to have his disappear. She later remarried a man name Hansen. So my maiden name could have been Mattesan, Olsen, Larsen or Hansen. My grandfather kept the last name Larsen.
I know that most people with the last name Larsen are Norwegian (with the “e”).
Sorry to ramble. LOL!
I am Australian, and one of my ancestors (Peter Hibbs) came out on the First Fleet as a sailor on the flag ship, the Sirius. It was shipwrecked at the colony of Norfolk Island, where he then settled, taking a wife from among the convicts of the Second Fleet. He was also the master of the ship that Matthew Flinders sailed to circumvigate around Tasmania, and there are a couple of landmarks on the west coast named after him. After being shipwrecked again doing supply runs between Sydney and Norfolk Island, he gave up the life of the sea, and settled to farming on the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney. They were flooded out a number of times. And when he died he was the oldest First Fleeter.
It was a secret until my great-grandfather died that he had a whole other family (wife and children) living in Germany.
Family-German Polish & Russian. Grandfathers side-seven of nine children and young adults lost in German war camps during WWII. Only my grandfather and great uncle made it to safety.
I do not have a clue where my family came from.
I am from my moms side, german,my dads side canadian french, Pennsylvania dutch.
Am already a subscriber.
My family came from England and Ireland
My mom was born in England, her parents were born both in Scotland I believe. I’m not 100% sure on my dad’s side, I know it is a big mix of many: Irish, Polish possibly some German.
My paternal great grandfather was a castaway on a boat over from France. Both my great grandmothers were full blood Indians on each side: Comanchee and Coushatta tribes. I wish I could have meet them or know more about them.
Hi, What a lovely book to look at and it sounds lovely to read. My husband has begun traveling to Japan and has just returned from Singapore. He brings home the most lovely pictures to share with us and I got a Kimono this time! He thought Japan had a wonderful history and culture. My paternal grandmother came to the USA when she was 13. Her parents and she came over from Calais, France on a cattle ship. They landed at Ellis Island. My maiden name was Spencer and my great-grandfather came from England. My mom’s side is mostly German. Please enter me in your wonderful book drawing. Many thanks, Cindi
My husband has been researching our geneology. Our distant relatives are from France. My grandmother was from Ukraine.
I love reading about Asia; I worked in Asia for 5 years so it will always be close to my heart!
My family is German, but has been in the US for several generations. However, my grandparents were raised in an area where everyone still spoke German and my oldest aunt only spoke German until she was 5 and went to school. Unfortunately, she doesn’t remember ANY of it now.
Ooh, I want in! I’m German (Mennonite, actually) and so is my husband. We haven’t looked too far back in our family trees, but if our kids end up with three eyes…(too gross?)
We know my father’s side originates from France, but they have been in Canada and America for many generations. My mother was born in Coventry, England and moved to the US as a child. An interesting story? Apparently my maternal grandparent’s enjoyed square dancing. When my grandparents divorced they remarried people who had previously been married to each other. My grandfather thought his new wife’s ex-husband would be a great match for my grandmother, so he introduced them and they ended up getting married to each other. Both couples stayed happily married until the death of each of my biological grandparents.
ldsmom2201 at yahoo dot com
http://juanshappywife.blogspot.com
I don’t know much about my roots and there are no secrets that I know of.
I am of Italian descent. I would like to learn more about my family.
The books sounds very interesting to read.
Thank you!
janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com
I’d love to win this one! Please enter me!
I have German and English on my fathers side and American Indian and English on my mothers side. I am sad to say I don’t know much except one of my great-great-great– uncles was General Joseph Hooker-not much too be proud of, but a fun fact.
When my father’s father came to America in the early 1900′s, his English was ok but he had a very heavy Italian accent.
The immigration clerk had a hard time understanding him and instead of looking at his paperwork, wrote down his name as he (the clerk) thought it should be spelled, not how it actually was spelled. This changed my father’s family name for all time.
I know I’m 1/2 German, and 1/2 Irish. My two daughters are adopted, and were born in China.
my Fathers family are relater to COLONEL TIMOTHY PICKERING responsible for the Canandaigua Treaty as it is now called between the indians and whites in ustate NY
The book looks really great. I hope if I do not win it that my library has it!
Both of my grandfathers were poor dirt farmers in Mississippi. Each spring they mortgaged the farms. Each fall they repaid the loan when the cotton was picked. Both were very proud that they owned their land.
I’m an email subscriber.
Thanks for having this giveaway! I would love to read this book.
As for family history, I know that my grandma’s ancestors were either given land by William Penn or they purchased land from him.
My ancestors are from France, Scotland, and Germany.
I study Chinese History, so I’d like to win this one!
I’m 1/2 Dutch, which is pretty remarkable considering how long my family’s been in the US…I didn’t find out until I was 18 that my grandma had been married before and that my dad’s older brother was his 1/2 brother.
bebemiqui82(at)yahoo(dot)com
I don’t know much about my mother’s side. However, my great great great (you get the idea) grandfather, came over from Ireland as a stow a way on a boat.
My family is from Hungary.
My father’s family comes from Spanish descendents of the Canary Islands. They settled in St. Bernard Parish in South Lousiana two generations ago. It’s a very rich culture that has really retained its roots.
My mother’s side is a less interesting East Texas blend of Scot-Irish, English, and Cherokee.
I want to say that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone’s rich histories. I read every single note on this entry!
The American melting pot describes my family tree. Scot Irish, Polish, French, English, German and other ethnicities that haven’t been uncovered yet!
My father received the Bronze Star during WWII; I’ve always been kind of proud of that.
cool
Don’t know much about my ancestory, but I love to read about other peoples’.