The Astronaut Children of Dunbar Street

The Astronaut Children of Dunbar Street is an intimate geopolitical memoir about family separated by distance and borders, split between Taiwan and Canada in the wake of shifting global powers.

In 1979, following the US-Taiwan break in diplomatic relations, a family in fear of a violent Chinese takeover emigrates from Taiwan to Canada—only to arrive in the midst of a deep recession. With few job prospects, the parents make a wrenching decision: to return to Taiwan for work, leaving their children behind in Vancouver. At just twelve years old, Wiley, the youngest child, suddenly finds herself unsupervised in a foreign country with only two rules to live by: study hard, and stay out of trouble.

What begins as the thrill of freedom soon gives way to homesickness, cultural dislocation and isolation. The siblings struggle in different ways, but once a month, during brief overseas phone calls, they gather to maintain the illusion of stability for their guilt-ridden parents. The separation grows from months to years. The family is never whole again.

The story of this fractured household parallels Taiwan’s own precarious position in global politics. Caught between an expansionist China and an unreliable American ally, Taiwan faces an ongoing struggle for survival, identity, and recognition—much like its children, scattered across the globe. The memoir draws a powerful connection between personal and political displacement, revealing a hidden history of resilience among transnational families.

While countless “astronaut children” have grown up in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand, their stories remain largely absent from the literary landscape. The Astronaut Children of Dunbar Street brings their experience into urgent and unforgettable focus.