Taipei Story (Standard Edition): R. F. Kuang

From the acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author of Yellowface and Katabasis comes a wryly funny, deeply moving coming-of-age novel about grief, language, and the ache of searching for home in a place that doesn’t quite know you.

College freshman Lily Chen is off to Taipei for a summer language program, like so many Chinese American students before her, hoping to finally connect with a culture she inherited but never fully understood. The plan unravels fast. Her classes are grueling. Her roommate is maddening. And one reckless trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows sets the whole program gossiping. She feels adrift, a foreigner in the very country she thought would feel like home.

Then the news arrives: her grandfather has died. Suddenly the questions Lily meant to ask someday have no one left to answer them. As she grieves, she pieces together memories, stories, and silences through a series of hilarious and devastating attempts at connection.

This novel asks the hard things. What if the homecoming never comes true? What if fluency can’t close the distance? What if your family’s history is one they’d rather not share? What if you wait too long?

Perfect for readers who love literary fiction with real bite and real heart, this new release hardcover is the kind of book you’ll want to linger over on a foggy Ogunquit afternoon, salt air drifting in, tea going cold beside you. Rich with humor, tenderness, and honest reckoning with family, memory, and belonging, it’s a story that stays with you long after the last page.

Pull up a chair by the shelf-talkers. We think you’ve just found your next favorite read.

Additional information