Sophie Chen Keller: "Little Wonder" | Oprah's Book Club
June 16, 2026
53 min
Full
82 of 82
June 16, 2026
Sophie Chen Keller: "Little Wonder" | Oprah's Book Club
0:00 / 53:28
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
Oprah Episodes Around June 16, 2026
Episode 82 of 82 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
45:16Mega-Bestselling Author Kathryn Stockett on Finding Her Voice Again After ‘The Help’
53:28This episodeSophie Chen Keller: "Little Wonder" | Oprah's Book Club
Summary
Oprah’s Book Club 124th selection is Little Wonder by author Sophie Chen Keller. Oprah and Sophie sit down with an enthusiastic audience of readers to discuss Sophie's childhood spent both in the USA and China and how that experience impacted her writing. She also shares how becoming a mother for the first time was the inspiration for Little Wonder. The story is about a profound bond of love that connects a mother, Song, to her son, named River. A cataclysmic roller coaster of events is set in motion when Song loses hold of River’s hand in the teeming crowds at a Beijing train station. Throughout this story of love, perseverance and hope mother and son desperately seek to find their way back to each other. Readers share that the climactic end had them in tears. Audience members also share the passages that moved them the most and ask questions of Sophie.
BUY THE BOOK!
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Wonder-Novel-Thousand-Voices/dp/B0G5X5Z5R9
00:00:00 - Welcome Sophie Chen Keller, author of “Little Wonder”
00:06:05 - Writing ‘Little Wonder’
00:09:40 - How Sophie found her title
00:12:32 - Her writing process
00:14:05 - Characters and plot
00:16:10 - Writing from a boy’s perspective
00:18:00 - Sophie’s love of piano
00:19:00 - The bumpy road to ‘Little Wonder’
00:23:50 - Why the novel was set in 2016
00:25:45 - Rewriting the book 3-4 times
00:29:50 - Motherhood in the novel
00:32:30 - Class in the novel
00:35:00 - Purpose and motherhood
00:37:50 - How Sophie relates to music
00:41:00 - Song’s grief
00:43:20 - Tchaikovsky and the story
00:45:30 - How Sophie knew the ending
Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social:
TikTok
Listen to the full podcast:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
#oprahsbookclub
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.