THE HEART SELLERS
Seattle Rep presents THE HEART SELLERS by Lloyd Suh from January 2, 2026 to February 1, 2026. Librarians at Seattle Public Library created this list of books, films and music to enhance your experience of the show.
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Nightbloom
"When a childhood friendship sours, two young Ghanaian women are filled with confusion and spite." (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Sula
Sula and Nel are two Black women who have navigated girlhood together but their choices in adulthood set them on divergent paths with irrecoverable consequences.
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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The Law That Changed the Face of America
The title of THE HEART SELLERS is a play on the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, also known as the Immigration and Nationality Act, which removed racial immigration quotas that had been in place since the 1920s. Journalist and immigration expert Orchowski details the impact of this legislation on the US population over the past 60 years.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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How to Pronounce Knife
"Poet Thammavongsa makes her fiction debut with this sharp and elegant collection that focuses on the hopes, desires, and struggles of Lao immigrants and refugees in an unnamed English-speaking city." (Publishers Weekly)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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First Love Language
"Adopted Taiwanese American Catie Carlson yearns to understand more about her culture and biological mother and offers to teach a co-worker how to date in exchange for learning Mandarin, in a story about grief, family and following one's heart." (NoveList)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Emperor of Gladness
"In the struggling town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai is saved from despair by Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia, forging an unexpected bond that reshapes their lives and reveals dynamics of love, memory, and resilience on the margins of society." (NoveList)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Hao
"A ribbon of frustration unfurls through this collection of 12 short stories that chronicle the efforts of Chinese and Chinese American women seeking to speak the truth about their lives." (Kirkus)
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Seattle Rep's THE HEART SELLERS website
Alone on Thanksgiving in 1973 while their husbands work long hours, young immigrants Luna and Jane meet as strangers over the frozen turkeys at the grocery store and decide to celebrate this unfamiliar holiday together. As they bond over their new lives in America and their longing for faraway family in Korea and the Philippines, they discover a kinship that overcomes any language barrier. In its Seattle debut, Lloyd Suh’s intimate, charming, and heartfelt new play explores what it means to find connection and friendship across cultures.
View Seattle Rep's THE HEART SELLERS website