“I think love is when you think you need someone
for your survival. Survival, defined broadly.”
“The way you think, sometimes . . .”
“The way I think, what?”
“It . . . surprises me. Yoko, we need each other. Family – family
is all we have.”
‘Smart, tender, and lyrical-SHANGHAILANDERS is a moving debut novel, and one that never stops surprising the reader . . . This is the kind of book I wish I’d read when I first was learning to write.’ Jiaming Tang
While the years rewind from 2040 back to 2014, Shanghailanders brings readers into the shared and separate lives of the Yang family, parent by parent, daughter by daughter, and through the eyes of the people in their orbit-a nanny from the provinces, a private driver with a penchant for danger, and a grandmother whose memories of the past echo the present. As they build their lives in this old, futuristic city, we see Leo, his wife Eko and their daughters Yumi, Yoko and Kiko trip over their own desires in their bids to connect with one another, in their attempts to be a family.
Though the world shifts and brings change for each of the Yangs, universal constants remain: love is complex and family will always be stubbornly connected by blood, secrets, and longing.
Dazzlingly constructed and achingly resonant, Shanghailanders is an unforgettable exploration of everything that follows ‘happily ever after’-and the ways a family makes and remakes itself across the years.
‘A wonderful and wildly smart and compelling book. If Shanghai is the future, this terrific novel knows it all.’ Joan Silber
