Have you ever felt difficult finding your own identity in mixed environment (american vs. chinese)? I am half indian, half finnish and facing this kind of puzzle. I enjoy your books, especially Shangai Girls where chinese sisters moved to America and settled down there and less or more found their place there. And for last question, have you ever studied history in university or you study everything on your own?

Lisa See I'm so glad you've enjoyed my books! To answer your first question, because of how I look I will always be “outside.” In Los Angeles Chinatown, people know me, but when I go to other Chinese communities or to China, people see me as an outsider. When I go into the larger white community here in the U.S., people look at me and talk to me as though I belong, but inside I often feel very foreign. I don’t like their bigotry and racism. In both worlds, I’m a bit outside. I think this has made me a better— and certainly more interesting—writer, because it really makes me look and feel.

And to answer your second question, I started out as an art history major, but I graduated with a B.A. in Humanities. I ended up creating my own major, which was Modern Greek Studies. On the surface, it would seem like that wouldn’t have helped me much as a writer, but actually it did. I learned the pleasures and surprises of research, which are at the heart of all my books.

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