Liu, Aimee E. 1953-

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LIU, Aimee E. 1953-

PERSONAL: Born April 19, 1953, in CT; daughter of Maurice T. and Jane H. (Clark) Liu; married; children: one son. Education: Yale University, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1975.

ADDRESSES: Home—Los Angeles, CA. Agent—Arthur Pine Agency, 250 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Wilhelmina Agency, New York, NY, fashion model, 1969-75; United Airlines, New York, flight attendant, 1975-78; writer, 1979—; television production work, 1981-85.

MEMBER: PEN USA (president, 2002).

WRITINGS:

Solitaire (autobiographical narrative), Harper & Row (New York, NY), 1979.

Fisherman's Revenge (one-act play), first produced in New York City at Fort Tryon Park, August 19, 1979.

(With Art Ulene and Steve Shelov) Bringing Out the Best in Your Baby, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1986.

(With Stan J. Katz) False Love and Other Romantic Illusions, Ticknor & Fields (New York, NY), 1988.

(With Stan J. Katz) Success Trap, Ticknor & Fields (New York, NY), 1990.

(With Stan J. Katz) The Codependency Conspiracy, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1991.

(With the American Academy of Pediatrics) The Academy Book of Childcare, Bantam (New York, NY), 1991.

Face (novel), Warner Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Cloud Mountain (novel), Warner Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Flash House (novel), Warner Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor of articles in Aim Plus, Cabletime, Cosmopolitan, Entrepreneur, Feeling Great, Footwear News, Glamour, Lear's, New Woman, and Self.

ADAPTATIONS: Cloud Mountain has been adapted as an audio book.

SIDELIGHTS: Aimee E. Liu has successfully written in a variety of genres, including personal memoirs, nonfiction, and novels. Her first book, Solitaire, was published when she was just twenty-five years old. It described her life as a fashion model and her struggle to recover from anorexia nervosa. Liu went on to coauthor several books on baby care and popular psychology, then successfully tried her hand at fiction in novels such as Face, Cloud Mountain, and Flash House.

Though it is fiction, Cloud Mountain has its roots in the story of Liu's grandparents. Her grandfather was a Chinese scholar and revolutionary who, on a sojourn in the United States, met and fell in love with an American schoolteacher. In the novel, Liang Po-yu is the revolutionary and Hope Leon is the teacher. After rescuing each other during the Great Earthquake that devastated San Francisco in 1906, they marry, despite widespread bigotry—even legal sanctions against their union. They return to China, where Liang Po-yu continues to struggle for democracy, and where their family life is endangered by feuding warlords, continued prejudice against their union, and personal tragedy. Their tale is "exciting and beautifully written," stated Kathleen Hughes in Booklist. Library Journal reviewer Jacqueline Seewald praised Liu's prose as having a "haunting, lyrical quality and an aura of authenticity."

Liu's next novel, Flash House, is set in Central Asia following World War II. Joanna Shaw is the wife of a journalist whose plane is reported down somewhere in Kashmir. Although he is presumed dead in the accident, Joanna does not believe that the crash was accidental or that her husband has really perished. She sets out to find him, bringing along a ten-year-old girl named Kamla, whom Joanna has rescued from a "flash house" or brothel. Kamla will work as her translator for Joanna and her Australian friend Lawrence Malcolm, a secret agent. Bookloons reviewer Hilary Williamson recommended Flash House as "a glittering jewel of a tale" peopled with "strong individuals capable of extreme loyalty." A writer for Kirkus Reviews also praised the "nice historical scenery" and "good cast of characters" found within the pages of Flash House.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Belles Lettres, review of Face, p. 65.

Booklist, June 1, 1997, Kathleen Hughes, review of Cloud Mountain, p. 1660; September 15, 1998, review of Cloud Mountain, p. 220; February 15, 2003, review of Flash House, p. 1049.

Books, summer, 1998, reviews of Cloud Mountain, pp. R3, 14.

Far Eastern Economic Review, May 30, 1996, review of Face, p. 38.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 1997, review of Cloud Mountain, p. 667; November 15, 2002, review of Flash House, p. 1647.

Kliatt, January, 1996, review of Face, p. 10; January, 1998, review of Cloud Mountain (audio version), p. 42; November, 1998, review of Cloud Mountain, p. 12.

Library Journal, May 15, 1997, Jacqueline Seewald, review of Cloud Mountain, p. 103; February 15, 2003, Barbara Hoffert, review of Flash House, p. 169.

New York Times Book Review, July 29, 1979.

Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, review of Cloud Mountain, p. 57; March 3, 2003, review of Flash House, p. 56.

Washington Post, July 27, 1979; July 31, 1979.