River East River West
By Aube Rey Lescure

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024A dark and glittering debut that traces a mixed family's troubled trajectory through developing China-------------Shanghai, 2007: feeling betrayed by her American mother's engagement to their rich landlord Lu Fang, fourteen-year-old Alva begins plotting her escape. But the exclusive American School - a potential ticket out - is not what she imagined.Qingdao, 1985: newlywed Lu Fang works as a lowly shipping clerk. Though he aspires to a bright future, he is one of many casualties of harsh political reforms. Then China opens up to foreigners and capital, and Lu Fang meets awoman who makes him question what he should settle for...A mesmerising reversal of the east-west immigrant narrative set against China's economic boom,and River East, River Westand is a deeply moving exploration of race, identity and family, of capitalism's false promise and private dreams.-------------PRAISE FORand RIVER EAST, RIVER WEST A novel about reinvention. It's original, it's funny, and it's sometimes heartbreaking as well'and Monica Ali, bestselling author ofand Love Marriageand (judge for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2024)'An incredible novel that immediately absorbs you into the lives of a complicated mixed family during China's economic boom. Rey Lescure writes beautifully about the unfairness of who gets opportunities and who doesn't, the complexities of family life and the agony of living up to expectations'and Luan Goldie, author ofand Nightingale Point'Aube Rey Lescure's beautiful debut makes us feel the inexhaustible mystery of other lives. A moving portrait of the love between a mother and daughter,and River East, River Westand portrays, too, the powerlessness of our loves against the riptides of history'and Garth Greenwell, author ofand Cleanness'A searing and intimate exploration of both China and the American Dream. Poignant and propulsive, thoughtful and moving. I loved this book'and Jean Kwok, bestselling author ofand Searching for Sylvie Lee A compelling and thought-provoking coming-of-age story about identity and the narratives we create about ourselves.and River East, River Westand offers a vivid portrait of China and the uneasy relationships of class and family history'and Catherine Cho, author ofand Inferno'A wonderfully compelling debut about a Chinese-American family that lays bare the excesses of wealth, hedonism, poverty, despair and neocolonial arrogance. Clear-eyed, illuminating, tender, devastating, I was swept along by Aube Rey Lescure's storytelling'and Priscilla Morris, author of Women's Prize-shortlistedand Black Butterflies