by Grace D. Li
First published 2022
Will Chen has perfected his role as the ideal Harvard student and dutiful eldest son. Then a mysterious benefactor offers him fifty million dollars to steal five Chinese sculptures from Western museums. The art was looted from Beijing centuries ago and never returned. Will assembles a crew of fellow Chinese Americans. Irene Chen from Duke can manipulate anyone through conversation. Daniel Liang studies medicine but picks locks with surgical precision. Lily Wu engineers solutions and drives getaway cars. Alex Huang dropped out of MIT to code in Silicon Valley. Each team member wrestles with their relationship to China and their American identity. The heist becomes more than a theft. It transforms into an attempt to reclaim what colonialism took. Success means wealth and the chance to rewrite history. Failure costs them their futures and leaves the art in foreign hands forever.
Genres: fiction, art, american-fiction, crime, contemporary, 21st-century, asian-american, academic
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, heist
Setting: Beijing, China, Duke, Harvard, MIT, Silicon Valley, Western Museums
Period: 21st Century
375 pages · Hardcover · Tiny Reparations Books