Jean Guttery

Jean is the author of Homesick, and her story is told in first-person perspective based upon the author's recollections of her childhood in China. Jean is ten years old at the start of the novel, and twelve years old by the close of the novel when she is back in America.

Jean is intelligent and incisive, but she still has a child's innocence and an ignorance about certain issues, especially the Communist revolution and the enormity of the historical events happening around her. Jean is impetuous and has a temper, and she often throws small tantrums when she does not get her way or she feels she is being ignored or deceived. She loves her father and mother dearly, and she also loves her nanny Lin Nai-Nai.

Jean feels culturally conflicted as a white American girl living in a somewhat rural part of China. She longs to...