Where the Past Begins

Amy of Tan's gifts, the ability to layer images, to command your attention, to shock you with a sudden slipping in of the knife are on display here' Amy Tan's past was gathered together in seven plastic boxes in the corner of her office. They were filled with wedding announcements and condolence cards ; babies' handprints and locks of hair ; the letters from her mother, brimming with anger, heartache and love. In Where the Past Begins, Tan unpacks the vivid memories of her traumatic childhood to reveal the powerful connections between truth and imagination - the spark that has inspired her most beloved novels. Filled with hard-won insights on the nature of creativity, this is a unique look into the mind of an extraordinary storyteller and an exploration of all that made it both unlikely and inevitable that she would become one of America's greatest living writers.