"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
The stylish, kaleidoscopic debut novel about sisterhood, love and Shanghai, from the Editor-in-Chief of The Shanghai Literary Review
Moving backwards in time from 2040 to 2014, Shanghailanders beautifully unfurls the story of the Yang family against the background of an ever-evolving Shanghai. Rotating perspectives through each member of the family as well as those who live in their orbit, the novel shows how secrets both separate and unite a family, irrevocably affecting the lives they touch.
Shanghailanders is more than an illuminating rendering of family; it also paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of Shanghai itself. From the roads taken by a driver swerving past self-driving cars of the future, to the intimate apartments where the family make bids to connect - the speed, the technology and the history of this old, futuristic city shine through the novel to form the foundations of this exceptional debut.
