You never wrote about your mother.
Call it a challenge, an observation, or a dare, that was what Gish Jen was thinking as she set out to write her tenth book—did she want to wake up one day and realize she had never written about the one relationship that stood at the center of her life, no matter how painful it might be?
In short, "BAD BAD GIRL" is the story of a mother told through the eyes of her daughter. Opening in 1920s Shanghai, we first meet Agnes as a young girl who’s expected to behave and be quiet, and from there, our narrator takes us through the full arc of her life—from birth to death. Throughout, Agnes interrupts the narrative from beyond the grave to argue, amend, correct, and scold her daughter’s telling.
Gish Jen is the author of five novels, two books of stories, and two works of nonfiction. Her honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the Fulbright Foundation.
