SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE

“Smart, confident storytelling. . . has perceptive things to say about the explosion of wealth in China and the fraught, totemic influence Americans have on the nation’s psyche.” — Wall Street Journal

Part mesmerizing coming-of-age tale, part intimate family drama, this stunning debut novel follows a young woman searching for belonging and opportunity in a rapidly changing world.

Shanghai, 2007: Feeling betrayed by her American mother’s engagement to their rich landlord Lu Fang, teenager Alva begins plotting her escape. But the exclusive American School—a potential ticket out—is not what she imagined, and she’s surprised to discover an institution run by an exclusive community of expats, and the ever-wilder thrills of a city where foreigners can ostensibly act as they please.

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 a woman who makes him question what he should settle for.

Seamlessly alternating between these two points of view, River East, River West explores complex questions of identity as Alva comes of age: Is she a local or a foreigner? Who is this man her mother married, and can he be a father when she never had one? A powerful reversal of the east-to-west immigrant narrative set against China’s economic rise, this lauded debut novel is a profoundly moving portrait of girlhood, race, and class, cultural identity and belonging, as it is the seductive allure of the American Dream.

“Delicately nuanced, devilishly propulsive, and achingly human, this is a coming-of-age story like no other.” —Oprah Daily