by Lee Lai
First published 2025
Cannon stands amid the wreckage of the restaurant she was meant to close. Tables lie overturned, chairs scattered, plates smashed across the floor. The Montreal heat wave makes everything feel sticky and wrong. She calls Trish, her best friend since high school. Back then, they were two queer second-generation Chinese kids stuck in the suburbs, finding safety in each other. Now in their twenties, they meet weekly to cook dinner and watch obscure Australian horror films. The routine keeps their friendship alive, but something has shifted. Cannon has always been the reliable one, the rule follower who never steps out of line. Tonight changes that. As Trish arrives to help her escape the destruction, both women face questions about who they are to each other now and what their bond really means when everything familiar falls apart.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, friendship, coming-of-age, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, contemplative, emotionally-charged, intimate, introspective
Tropes: emotional-crisis, found-family, friends-to-lovers, self-discovery
Setting: Montreal, suburbs
304 pages · Hardcover · Drawn and Quarterly