CINEMA LOVE

Discover a moving story about forbidden relationships in the Chinese province. Immerse yourself in the world of intimate relationships and the hardships of immigration. Get to know the story of Old Second and Bao Mei, who are connected by desire, but not to each other.

• Moving story about forbidden relationships and desire.
• Melancholy journey through the hardships of immigration and caring for others.
• Insightful look at how the shadow of the past can weigh on the present.
• Nomination for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction in 2025.
• Selection of the book club TeaTime Dakota Johnson.

Cinema Love is the story of Old Second and Bao Mei, who have been living a modest life in New York's Chinatown for over thirty years. However, they are not a traditional marriage. They are connected by desire. But not to each other, but to others. A small cinema in the Chinese provincial town of Fuzhou was the place where Old Second and other men entered into intimate relationships. Most of them were gay and married women, which helped them hide their true orientation. Bao Mei worked in the cinema as a cashier and helped customers keep their rendezvous secret. She herself also found happiness alongside the cinema operator.

After the nature of the relationship between Old Second and his lover is revealed, the protagonists must leave their home country. What will life in the United States bring them? This book is a moving, tender and melancholic story about forbidden relationships and desire, about the hardships of immigration and caring for others. And also about how the shadow of the past can weigh on the present. The book was nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction in 2025. Selection of the book club TeaTime Dakota Johnson.