“Spring Flower Book One: A Tale of Two Rivers (1931-1951) is a story of resilience and survival during a time of relentless cultural and historical change. In this first volume of a three-book memoir, the author, Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, covers a harrowing 20-year span. She was born with everything already stacked against her: she was born
“Spring Flower Book One: A Tale of Two Rivers (1931-1951) is a story of resilience and survival during a time of relentless cultural and historical change. In this first volume of a three-book memoir, the author, Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, covers a harrowing 20-year span. She was born with everything already stacked against her: she was born during the catastrophic Yangtze River flood of 1931. Her rural, peasant family couldn’t care for an infant daughter — “Sons are much more valuable,” “she recounts her mother saying. Her life and marriage made her a target of the Chinese regime; her back and forth childhood between China, America, China and then America rendered her perpetually displaced...”
— RJ Frometa in Vents Magzine.
“Spring Flower: A Tale of Two Rivers is a captivating memoir by Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, compiled and edited by her son Richard Perkins Hsung, that explores a life shaped by extraordinary circumstances, spanning from 1931 to 1951. The book follows Jean’s journey from her birth in China to her adolescence in the United States and her eventu
“Spring Flower: A Tale of Two Rivers is a captivating memoir by Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, compiled and edited by her son Richard Perkins Hsung, that explores a life shaped by extraordinary circumstances, spanning from 1931 to 1951. The book follows Jean’s journey from her birth in China to her adolescence in the United States and her eventual return to China. This first volume is a poignant exploration of family, identity, and the impact of historical events...”
— Clay Burton in Independent Music and Arts Insider (IMAAI).
“...Readers are given a startling insider’s account of Chinese history... Bridging two centuries, the complete three-volume memoir brings to life themes of displacement, hope, and a woman coming into her own power...”
— Daniel Goh from YoungUpstarts.Com
“We all when sitting back and looking at lineage ruminate on where our family is from. Particularly with first-generation immigrant families, obviously, this is something never far away. In a beautiful tribute to his mother’s struggle against Maoist Communism and self-determination and citizenship in the United States, Dr. Richard Perkins
“We all when sitting back and looking at lineage ruminate on where our family is from. Particularly with first-generation immigrant families, obviously, this is something never far away. In a beautiful tribute to his mother’s struggle against Maoist Communism and self-determination and citizenship in the United States, Dr. Richard Perkins Hsung compiles, edits, and completes his mother Dr. Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins’ accounts of this struggle, in the process humanizing the immigrant experience in a way that is painfully visceral, and immediate...”
— Nicole Killian from Mobyorkcity.Com
“Spring Flower Book 1: 1931 – 1951 – A Tale of Two Rivers is the memoir of Dr. Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, edited, compiled, and finalized by her son, Dr. Richard Perkins Hsung. The work is at once, obviously speaking, intensely personal, yet concocted with enough distance so it reads like a compellingly realized novel...”
— Garth Thomas in The Hollywood Digest
“...Through these trials and tribulations, Dr. Perkins has emerged at times battered, but
never broken. That resolute spirit really shines through the text, and adds to what
makes the book — cover to cover — so oddly uplifting, inspirational, and worth
reading...”
— Colin Jordan in Medium
“Spring Flower is a gripping and poignant memoir based on one woman’s true story, whose fate shuffled mainly between China and the United States...”
— Sabby Samar on Goodreads and Sabby Review
“The remarkable life of a Chinese girl who, adopted by Western missionaries, is torn between China and America at a time of war, revolution, and global tectonics. In Book I, her early life from infancy to young adulthood, is well-told by her son through her vivid memories and family tales, and leaves one eager to learn what kind of person
“The remarkable life of a Chinese girl who, adopted by Western missionaries, is torn between China and America at a time of war, revolution, and global tectonics. In Book I, her early life from infancy to young adulthood, is well-told by her son through her vivid memories and family tales, and leaves one eager to learn what kind of person Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins becomes.”
— Helen Zia, author of Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution
“A book you cannot put down until you come to the end, and not even then.”
— Margaret Sun, author of Betwixt and Between: A Memoir of Modern China
“Spring Flower: Facing the Red Storm l951-l970 is the second book in a unique trilogy by Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, MD, edited by her son Richard Perkins Hsung. With her remarkable recall and skill as a writer, the author portrays her life in China with vivid descriptions that transport the reader into the immediacy of the scenes; how she and
“Spring Flower: Facing the Red Storm l951-l970 is the second book in a unique trilogy by Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, MD, edited by her son Richard Perkins Hsung. With her remarkable recall and skill as a writer, the author portrays her life in China with vivid descriptions that transport the reader into the immediacy of the scenes; how she and her family survived floods, wars, famines, and the infamous, chaotic period of the Cultural Revolution – the focus of this book. As a doctor, both she and her agronomist husband were targeted by the Red Guards; she was sent to a rural re-education program whereas he survived years in a hard labor camp.
Amidst a life of ceaseless hardship, Dr. Perkins raised two children, one handicapped, while continuing to practice ophthalmology against all odds. Spring Flower is an extraordinary book, a powerful narrative about an exceptional life. Deeply human and heart rending, the book is above all a testament to courage – an inspiring story that deserves wide recognition.”
— Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle, author of Aging with Wisdom: Reflections, Stories, & Teachings, Ten Thousand Joys and Ten Thousand Sorrows: A Couple's Journey Through Alzheimer's, and Ley Lines of Love: Adventures Along the Spiritual Path
“Spring Flower is an epic story of one family’s survival in China in the 1950s, 60s and 70s when the country lurched from the economic upheaval of the Great Leap Forward only to end up tearing itself apart during the Cultural Revolution. Dr. Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins gives us a deeply moving memoir of what it was like to be a physician, a wif
“Spring Flower is an epic story of one family’s survival in China in the 1950s, 60s and 70s when the country lurched from the economic upheaval of the Great Leap Forward only to end up tearing itself apart during the Cultural Revolution. Dr. Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins gives us a deeply moving memoir of what it was like to be a physician, a wife, and a mother (of a child with cerebral palsy) during those tumultuous years. Her life is an outstanding portrait of resilience, hope and love that shine like a lamp through some of the most the dim and brutal periods of modern Chinese history.”
— Simon Chao-Johnston, author of House of Daughters