Novelist Amy Tan Discusses Ghosts and Her Latest Novel.

Growing up as a first-generation Chinese-American in Northern California, novelist Amy Tan found herself pulled by two different notions of fate: Her mother was guided by beliefs in curses and luck, while her father, a Baptist minister, was guided by Christian faith.

Novelist Amy Tan. Her debut novel, "The Joy Luck Club," was a huge critical and commercial success, and it earned Tan a nomination for the National Book Award. It's now been made into a movie. Tan and Ron Bass wrote the screenplay. Marty will talk with Tan and Bass about making "The Joy Luck Club" into a movie. Ron Bass also wrote the screenplay for "Rain Man" for which he won an Academy Award. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Tan's debut novel, "The Joy Luck Club," was a huge critical and commercial success, earning Tan a nomination for the National Book Award. She has a new novel, called "The Kitchen God's Wife," which draws explicitly from her mother's experiences as a Chinese immigrant and survivor of an abusive relationship.