My Other Heart: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel

Written by Emma Nanami Strenner

Narrated by Joy Osmanski

READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY

“A mesmerizing novel filled with different types of love and secrets from the past.” —Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee

A missing child, two girls in search of their true identities--a stunning novel of mothers, daughters and best friends

In June 1998, Mimi Truang is on her way home to Vietnam when her toddler daughter vanishes in the Philadelphia airport.

Seventeen years later, two best friends in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, discuss their summer plans before college. Kit, with the support of her white adoptive parents, will travel to Tokyo to explore her Japanese roots. This dizzying adventure offers her a taste of first love and a new understanding of what it means to belong.

Sabrina had hoped to take a similar trip to China, but money is tight. Her disappointment subsides, however, when she meets a bold, uncompromising new mentor who prompts Sabrina to ask questions she’s avoided all her life. Meanwhile, Mimi purchases a plane ticket to Philadelphia. She finally has a lead in her search for her daughter.

When Mimi, Kit, and Sabrina come face to face, they will confront the people they truly are, in this tremendously moving novel that is propelled to its astonishing climax in a way you will never forget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Audio
• Release date: Aug 5, 2025
• ISBN: 9798217071890

Reviews for My Other Heart

[hccpsk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In 1998, Mimi was at the airport waiting for her return flight to Vietnam after a difficult time in America that left her alone with her 14-month-old daughter. When her daughter disappears prior to their flight, the language barrier and other obstacles result in her deportation back to Vietnam without her child. Seventeen years later, we meet Kit and Sabrina, friends who bonded in childhood as Asian Americans in the lily-white neighborhood of Philadelphia. As they graduate from high school, both girls struggle to find themselves, and they pursue different ways to move forward — Kit travels to Japan while Sabrina stays and works at an Asian American legal aid office. My Other Heart by Emma Nanami Strenner explores themes of belonging, immigration, and young love as it follows all of these characters through the summer. Strenner tells a good story and keeps all the plotlines moving well, but maybe a few fewer threads would have allowed for more development among the main characters. Her dialogue needs work, and the book feels very YA, but readers looking for an emotional coming-of-age novel about mothers and daughters, friendship, and belonging will enjoy My Other Heart.