William Poy Lee graduated with a Bachelors of Architecture, emphasis on urban design and planning from the University of California in Berkeley and completed his juris doctor degree from Hastings College of the Law, University of California. Before becoming a writer, William worked as as an international banking attorney and an advertising executive. After some mid-life soul searching, William left the professional world and began seeking his roots, looking for enlightenment in the land of his ancestors -- China. He has traveled, lived and taught writing in China since 2008 and is currently serving as a visiting professor at the Minzu University of China (中央民族大学) in Beijing.

In the best-selling tradition of The Color of Water comes a beautifully written, evocative memoir of a relationship between a mother and son—and the Chinese-American experience

In The Eighth Promise, author William Poy Lee gives us a rare view of the Asian-American experience from a mother-son perspective. His moving and complex story of growing up in the housing projects of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1960s and ’70s unfolds in two voices—the author’s own and that of his mother—to provide a sense of tradition and culture. It is a stunning tale of murder, injustice, fortitude, and survival. Already, this exquisitely wrought memoir is garnering rave notices.