Where the Peacocks Sing: A Palace, a Prince, and the Search for Home - Memoir of Royalty & Belonging | Perfect for Book Clubs, Travel Enthusiasts & History Lovers

I absolutely loved this book! Honest, witty and beautifully written, Alison Singh Gee takes us on a dazzling journey through Hong Kong and India, where she unexpectedly finds her own fairytale ending and discovers home by redefining her values about money, love and family.Gee’s personal journey, set against this exotic background, is relatable and I identified with her struggle as she balanced a desire for a deeper love connection and meaningful life with an upbringing that taught her to define success only in terms of wealth and material things.The book opens in British Hong Kong, where Gee is leading a glamorous ex-pat life as an entertainment columnist and journalist. After fleeing from Los Angeles to escape her difficult and quirky, but loving family, Gee is dating a wealthy Brit, sporting couture, accepting invitations to exclusive parties and hot spots, and indulging in luxurious weekend getaways. But despite her success, Gee knows something is missing. Then, while working at Asiaweek, Gee meets Ajay, an Indian journalist, who sweeps her off her feet.After a whirlwind romance and engagement, Gee swaps taxis and expensive dinners for bus fare and brownbag lunches to the dismay of her family and friends. But it turns out Ajay is a prince with a palace in the Indian country town of Mokimpur.To Gee’s surprise, however, the palace is crumbling and filled with Ajay's Indian relatives, including his mother, who are not immediately accepting of their soon-to-be princess. While attempting to fit in with her future family and understand the deep connection Ajay has to his Mokimpur home, Gee is compelled to examine the relationship to money she inherited from her father, the black-sheep of a wealthy Chinese-American family.In the end, Gee learns that only you can define what success means to you, and love and family mean more than designer clothes and swanky apartments. Where the Peacocks Sing is a fun read and imparts important lessons about defining your own values. I highly recommend it to anyone look for something fun, adventurous, and also substantive.