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Having fled Japanese-occupied Korea for the gleaming promise of the United States with nothing but four dollars and a suitcase full of Shakespeare to his name, the young, idealistic Chungpa Han arrives in a New York teeming with expatriates, businessmen, students, scholars, and indigents. Struggling to support his studies, he travels throughout the United States and Canada, becoming by turns a traveling salesman, a domestic worker, and a farmer, and observing along the way the idealism, greed, and shifting values of the industrializing twentieth century. Part picaresque adventure, part shrewd social commentary, East Goes West casts a sharply satirical eye on the demands and perils of assimilation. It is a masterpiece not only of Asian American literature but also of American literature.

As office manager of the city’s leading luxury boudoir and pinup photography studio, lovable grump Samantha Sawyer has everything under control. With an eventful summer season on the horizon, Sam is balancing a hectic workload while preparing the Buxom Boudoir “Photobus,” a vintage coach bus converted into a mobile photobooth and meeting space, to make the rounds at Chicago’s bustling summer street festival roster. Sam’s busy schedule makes avoiding the difficult parts of her life much easier, but there’s one person who can see right through her to-do lists and icy façade, really see her.

A lot has changed in the last year for Russell Montgomery. Years of odd jobs and couch surfing around the country had left him scrambling, but after reconnecting with his brother, Reid (and coming as close to settling down as he’s ever been), Russ now works at a hot local restaurant. Russ has been welcomed into his newly engaged brother’s circle of friends—all except a close friend and coworker of Reid’s fiancée, an intriguingly stormy woman named Sam.

Luckily, Sam is certain that the chaos of her calendar will ensure their distance, and she won’t have to deal with Russ or his irritating, handsome smile. But when Russ is charged with the launch of a restaurant food truck for the festival circuit, the sizzling Chicago heat is no match for the fire between them….