My Other Heart

My Other Heart by Emma Nanami Strenner is a book that quietly draws you in. At first glance, it seems straightforward, but as you continue reading, it becomes clear that the story is layered with many interconnected themes.

The story follows two young girls, Kit and Sabrina, as they contemplate and search for the truth about their heritage and identity. Mimi is also an essential character in the story. While traveling home to Vietnam, her two-year-old daughter goes missing; Mimi never stops searching for her.

Through these characters, the story beautifully explores themes of love and loss, as well as the unexpected turns life can take. It delves into adoption and the importance of cultural roots, as well as the search for one's true home.

A missing child, two girls in search of their true identities-a stunning novel of mothers, daughters and best friends

In June 1998, Mimi Truang is on her way home to Vietnam when her toddler daughter vanishes in the Philadelphia airport.

Seventeen years later, two best friends in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, discuss their summer plans before college. Kit, with the support of her white adoptive parents, will travel to Tokyo to explore her Japanese roots. This dizzying adventure offers her a taste of first love and a new understanding of what it means to belong.

Sabrina had hoped to take a similar trip to China, but money is tight. Her disappointment subsides, however, when she meets a bold, uncompromising new mentor who prompts Sabrina to ask questions she's avoided all her life. Meanwhile, Mimi purchases a plane ticket to Philadelphia. She finally has a lead in her search for her daughter.

When Mimi, Kit, and Sabrina come face to face, they will confront the people they truly are, in this tremendously moving novel that is propelled to its astonishing climax in a way you will never forget.

1. In the opening scene of My Other Heart, Mimi is in the airport, in transit. How does this image-of waiting, of being between two places, of liminal space-show up throughout the novel?

2. The journey of motherhood is depicted through multiple characters in the novel. Some mothers are not biologically connected to their daughters, others are physically separated, still others are not technically parents at all but fill a meaningful maternal role. Consider Mimi, Sally, Lee Lee, Eva, Yuriko. How do you see each of them acting as mothers? In what ways do they influence the younger characters?

3. What do you think prompted Sabrina, normally a quiet student, to deliver such a powerful and personal monologue in drama class?

4. Kit and Sabrina both plan for the summer before college to be filled with adventure and self-actualization. Their summers don't turn out the way they expected, but each girl does indeed experience challenge and growth. Did you have a similarly formative summer when you were an adolescent?

5. Dave and Sabrina's relationship changes throughout the novel. How does their individual growth allow their friendship to grow?

6. Discuss the title My Other Heart. Why do you think Emma Nanami Strenner chose this title? How do the main characters connect to this idea of another part of themselves-a part that can feel both close and far away?

7. How do you think Amy's friendship influenced Kit? In what ways was Amy a different type of friend than Sabrina was?

8. Though this novel is set in multiple countries, Chestnut Hill and Philadelphia are the only places that every character has in common. How has the city affected each of the characters-from Kit and Sabrina to Yuriko to Eva, and so on?

9. Were you surprised that Kit and Ryo's relationship didn't last into their first year of college? Kit gives Sabrina a long-winded explanation as to why they broke up-distance, personality differences, and identity. How did you interpret Kit's explanation? What do you think the most important factors in their breakup likely were?

10. Belonging is at the heart of this story. Do you think Kit and Sabrina found a sense of belonging by the end of the story? And how do their journeys differ?

11. What part of the story was the most emotionally moving for you? Did the end surprise you?

Book Club Talking Points:
"My Other Heart" by Emma Nanami Strenner is an excellent pick for book clubs because it touches on deep emotions, which usually sparks good discussions. The story explores human relationships, love, loss, and the impact we have on each other's lives. With its strong characters, the book goes into the complexities of feelings, offering topics from why characters do what they do to shared human experiences.

A mesmerizing novel filled with different types of love and secrets from the past, My Other Heart is an exploration of identity, motherhood, and friendship. Emma Nanami Strenner's luminous debut follows three unforgettable women as they search for truth and belonging. Poignant and powerful, this is a novel that lingers long after the final page." -Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee

"[My Other Heart] captures the intense love between mothers and daughters and highlights the resilience of young women forging their own identities in a world full of expectations. A beautifully written and thought-provoking novel that is a must-read for those interested in contemporary fiction about cultural exploration and personal growth." -Library Journal

" Readers will be captivated by Strenner's elegant prose and the tender resilience of her characters. . . an unforgettable coming-of-age story." -Booklist

"My Other Heart is a wise, well observed, and transporting debut that explores what it means to belong. At once an immersive coming of age novel and an unflinching study of race, class, and manners, it confronts loneliness, cowardice, the quest for self-acceptance, and the effort required to truly see one another-even the people we think we're closest to-head-on. Sabrina Chen is an unforgettable heroine. I was on her side from start to finish." -Emma Knight, New York Times bestselling author of The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

"I'm grateful to Emma Nanami Strenner for this story of two young Asian-American women, who grapple with big questions of culture and social class, while also navigating the everyday complexities of friendship, love, and daughterhood. My Other Heart offers no pat or easy answers, thank goodness. Instead, Sabrina and Kit learn that identity isn't always simple and that only they can answer the question of who they are and to what world-or worlds-they want to belong." -Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of Watch Us Shine

"I've never read anything quite like Emma Nanami Strenner's My Other Heart: gorgeous, devastating, equally joyous and heartbreaking. Weaving three disparate lives across years and thousands of miles, it recounts the ripple effect expanding from a single, fateful day in the past, spinning an ecosystem of pain and memory around it. Reaching the end of Sabrina, Kit, and Mimi's story was like taking in a gasp of air after spending a minute underwater." -Jinwoo Chong, author of Flux

"Two complex, shimmering young women burst from the pages of My Other Heart, authentic and full of life. I fell in love with Kit and Sabrina, their flawed but caring mothers, and Emma Nanami Strenner's beautiful words." -Jess Stanley, author of Consider Yourself Kissed

"I am bereft to have finished it! From the suburbs of Philadelphia to the streets of Saigon, I was completely immersed in the lives of these very special characters. I loved it." -Emily Itami, author of Fault Lines

"Beautifully written and accomplished." -Nussaibah Younis, author of Fundamentally