They Don’t Even Know Their Own Names

Twenty-two-year-old Emmie Lau intends to marry her American boyfriend, but her Chinese parents think otherwise and send her halfway around the world to attend Loveboat: a Chinese language program in Taiwan renowned for its matchmaking.  

 Upon embarking, Emmie finds herself trapped, for the next six weeks, with Chinese American jocks and princesses who conjure memories of childhood bullies. But when Emmie finds herself under the attentive gaze of Lucas, a beautiful attendee at the center of everyone’s attention, she is surprised to discover a man of astonishing sensitivity – and her curiosity blooms. Lucas’s companionship quickly jeopardizes her relationship at home, and as her visibility alongside him grows, she’s forced to confront her fragile self-image.

As Emmie struggles to resist her deepening feelings for Lucas, she befriends a pack of irreverent, foul-mouthed companions who challenge her cultural insecurities and long-held grudges. These new friends help Emmie piece together the fragmented parts of her American upbringing and Chinese heritage, as well as navigate matters of the heart, all while drinking snake’s blood, feasting in night markets, and roaming the country’s brutally humid landscape. Deeply attached to Taiwan, her history with it, and the people in it, Emmie experiences a burgeoning sense of belonging and identity. But as summer fades, she must face reality and grapple with the enormous weight of leaving those who have transformed her.