The Joy Luck Club (1989) is a novel by Chinese American writer Amy Tan.

The Joy Luck Club focuses on 4 Chinese recent migrant families in San Francisco who set up a mahjong club in 1949 called The Joy Luck Club.

One theme in the novel is that of lost children.

For example, Suyuan Woo abandons her twin daughters in China during WWII to save them as she is nearly dead. She later searches for the twins, but in vain. It is not until after Suyuan’s death that her American born daughter, Jing-Mei, travels to China to meet her long-lost half sisters.

Similar to Suyuan, another character, An-mei, was left by her mother, who was forced into a life as a fourth concubine to a rich merchant. An-mei was therefore raised by her grandmother, Popo, from 5 years from the age of 4. Popo taught An-mei to be stoic, to respect tradition & rigid family structures.

The Joy Luck Club was adapted to film in 1993.