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A Novel
William Morrow
January 2024
On Sale: January 9, 2024
Featuring: Lu Fang; Alva
352 pages ISBN: 0063257858 EAN: 9780063257856 Kindle: B0C246217F Hardcover / e-Book
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Multicultural Asian
Set against the backdrop of developing modern China, this
mesmerizing literary debut is part coming-of-age tale, part
family and social drama, as it follows two generations
searching for belonging and opportunity in a rapidly
changing world—perfect for readers of Behold the
Dreamers, White Ivy, and The Leavers.
Shanghai, 2007: Fourteen-year-old Alva has always longed
for more. Raised by her American expat mother, she’s
never known her Chinese father, and is certain a better life
awaits them in America. But when her mother announces her
engagement to their wealthy Chinese landlord, Lu Fang,
Alva’s hopes are dashed, and so she plots for the next
best thing: the American School in Shanghai. Upon admission,
though, Alva is surprised to discover an institution run by
an exclusive community of expats and the ever-wilder thrills
of a city where foreigners can ostensibly act as they
please.
1985: In the seaside city of Qingdao, Lu Fang is a young,
married man and a lowly clerk in a shipping yard. Though he
once dreamed of a bright future, he is one of many
casualties in his country’s harsh political reforms.
So when China opens its doors to the first wave of
foreigners in decades, Lu Fang’s world is split wide
open after he meets an American woman who makes him
confront difficult questions about his current status
in life, and how much will ever be enough.
In a stunning reversal of the east-to-west immigrant
narrative and set against China’s political history
and economic rise, River East, River West is an
intimate family drama and a sharp social novel. Alternating
between Alva and Lu Fang’s points of view, this is a
profoundly moving exploration of race and class,
cultural identity and belonging, and the often-false promise
of the American Dream.
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