Journey To The Heartland

Journey to the Heartland tells the real-life story of a boy growing up in a factory town in 1980s China in a broken family under a gay father who manipulated the family to accept him luring unsuspecting young men into their home. The boy survives the tormenting family life with the love of his mother and strives for academic and professional success. As the boy grows into a young man and migrates to America, the connections he made with everyday people, the struggles he witnessed in others’ lives, and the losses and loves he experienced on his journey shape his pursuit of intellect, love and humanity, challenge him to live up to his potential that his previous generation could not.

Xiaolong Huang’s book offers a rare glimpse into a life at the crossroad of homosexuality, immigration, interracial love and rising authoritarianism, and pays tribute to “everyday people who lived an honest life, struggled, cared for others, and fought for our humanity”