by Claire Jia
First published 2025
Ye Lian has built a solid life in Beijing. She earns good money, dates a dependable boyfriend, and dreams of their wedding and luxury apartment. Her world feels complete until Luo Wenyu sweeps back into her life after ten years in California. Wenyu appears to have everything Lian thought she wanted. Their renewed friendship forces Lian to examine her careful choices. Wenyu shares a devastating secret about a former lover, making Lian doubt her own relationship. But Wenyu's perfect life hides dangerous truths that could destroy both women. Lian faces an impossible choice between the security she has built and an uncertain path that could cost her everything. The novel explores how friendship and envy can push people toward decisions that reshape their lives forever.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, contemporary-romance
Vibes: character-driven, emotionally-complex, intimate, introspective, tension-filled, thought-provoking
Tropes: friends-to-complicated-relationship, love-triangle, past-resurfacing, unreliable-perception
Setting: Beijing, California
Period: Contemporary, 21st century
361 pages · Paperback · Tin House
Content warnings: emotional-abuse