Shanghailanders

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What to expect

Longlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction * Time 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 * The New York Times Editors' Choice

"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."

'This bold experiment . . . pays off beautifully' Guardian
'Simmering with secrets and tensions' The New York Times
'Quick-footed and captivating . . . a perfect holiday read' Monocle

While the years rewind from 2040 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.

'Min has established herself as a sharp chronicler of contemporary China - and of the ever-complicated matters of the heart' Kirsten Chen, author of COUNTERFEIT
'Never stops surprising the reader' Jiaming Tang, author of CINEMA LOVE
'Audacious' Washington Post
'Colourful and ambitious' Dazed

Critics Review

Told in reverse chronological order, this bold experiment with time pays off beautifully, completely unsettling the reader's expectations. Min's prose is elegant and crystalline as it refracts the family's cruelties.
Guardian
Ambitious . . . a thrilling, futuristic family drama that captures the joys, disappointments, and inside jokes of one Shanghai family in reverse chronological order.
TIME
Tender, atmospheric, and wholly captivating . . . Min has established herself as a sharp chronicler of contemporary China-and of the ever-complicated matters of the heart.
Kirsten Chen, author of COUNTERFEIT
Shanghailanders is a wonderful, wildly smart and compelling book. If Shanghai is the future, this terrific novel knows it all. We follow a glorious cluster of characters as they trip over their own longings, in this fiction of real astuteness.
Joan Silber, author of SECRETS OF HAPPINESS
Bracing, thrilling, and breathtakingly smart . . . Shanghailanders offers a new way of seeing. Not just of Shanghai, but France, Japan, America, and every last corner of its characters' minds . . . Absolutely extraordinary.
Liam Callanan, author of PARIS BY THE BOOK
Lyrical and haunting, Shanghailanders explores the enduring mysteries of family . . . Min movingly portrays the Yangs and their many seasons of love and loss in a metropolis that perpetually rises, falls, and emerges from the ashes. An extraordinary debut.
Vanessa Hua, author of FORBIDDEN CITY
Marvellous.
Laura Zigman, author of SMALL WORLD
Smart, tender and lyrical - Shanghailanders never stops surprising the reader . . .
Jiaming Tang, author of CINEMA LOVE
Readers can follow each family member throughout their life -- and discover how lucky it is to have the benefit of hindsight.
Luxury London
Min's remarkable debut novel . . . Having knowledge of these characters' futures before we know about their past makes stumbling on their bygone days all the more touching . . . My answer to my original question of whether this unusual storytelling structure is worthwhile would be a resounding yes.
The New York Times Book Review
An unusual and immersive reading experience.
Kirkus Reviews
Min's debut novel is a complicated family story, told in reverse . . . a family simmering with secrets and tensions.
The New York Times
Min's debut will be appreciated by readers who relish the joy of discovery and piecing information together to shape the characters and events in their own minds. It is an intriguing portrait of a fragmented family where nothing is ever quite what it seems. A strong option for book groups.
Library Journal
[An] assured debut, told in reverse chronology . . . credibly reflect[ing] the messiness of family. Min is a writer worth keeping tabs on.
Publishers Weekly
With a cosmopolitan scope that takes readers from Shanghai, to Paris, to Boston . . . There's something here for every reader.
B&N Reads
Enthralling . . . In her masterful storytelling, Min captures the essence of life in a rapidly changing city and world . . . A captivating read that will linger in the minds of readers.
Booklist
[An] audacious debut . . . Min is a talented writer whose debut shows much promise. Her own future, at least, appears bright.
Washington Post
Min's prose is quick-footed and captivating and the book's structure of a novel-in-stories makes it a perfect holiday read, with interlocking tales to dip into between trips to the pool.
Monocle
A colourful and ambitious novel, Shanghailanders deftly unpacks the meaning of family and belonging.
Dazed

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