Tapioca Fire

by Suzanne Gilbert

TAPIOCA FIRE opens when Susan tries to solve the mystery of a missing parent only to uncover a greater crime. A once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity brings her to Japan for the opening of a new museum. It also gives her the excuse to hop another flight to visit the world of the woman who gave her away years ago in Thailand. Beautiful, dangerous, haunting, this quest is hers: she discovers the truth behind her relinquishment, sees the life she might have led, and finds a new purpose for her life going forward. But it is as much the story of her adoptive parents who became pioneers in international adoption after an irreversible tragedy. They visit Thailand, a country of precious gems and orphans, convulsed by the struggles for democracy. They join the first generation to have their adult children return overseas to find birth family. There is the detective Susan hires who specializes in adoption reunions and carries a secret of his own. Her journey rocks her marriage to David whose father abandoned the family years ago. Together they explore the rich spirituality behind David's decision not to pursue his own lost parent. Then that secret finds them.

Genres: Adoption, Fiction

526 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2013

About the author

I have worked as a Japanese-English interpreter, a TV field producer, and in corporate IT.

Part of my childhood was TV-free in rural Maine where I fell in love with Thomas Hardy, Guy de Maupassant, François Mauriac, and the Brontë sisters only to spend decades away reading practical non-fiction, especially concerning coding, enterprise hardware, and IT security.

Two exceptions to this sensibleness were years I binge-read reunion memoirs after being found by my birth-mother {see virtual bookshelf link}. Most recently I have been binge-reading fiction and non-fiction in the reclamation of my paternal Indigenous heritage.

After eighteen years away, I returned to that same Maine island and it is a lovely place to read.

Reviews

[Suzanne Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I'm the author and I think it would be helpful to include this alternate description of TAPIOCA FIRE that an editor friend liked:

This novel goes beyond the expected adoption story. Adoption memoirs typically tell the new parents’ story and end with “gotcha day” when they triumph over obstacles to finalize the contract that makes a baby their own.
Relinquishment and search memoirs tell the story of the Baby Scoop Era when several million babies were given away by or taken from American girls, or Asian girls, or Eastern European girls, or Latin American girls.
Search and reunion memoirs tell of the adopted person finally becoming the hero of their own story and finding their truth.
Tapioca Fire interweaves the joy and pain of these three narratives across continents and decades with compassion, wit, and memorable scenes and language.

[Eric Kestenbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartfelt, enlightening and engaging, it made me really appreciate the journey of someone looking to discover their personal history.