Elegant, intimate, nuanced and electric, Iris is alive to the powers of language and literature, probing desire, connection and the self with singular style and flair. When Iris and Bowen meet at an artists’ residency, the connection is immediate. Both are married to other people, but their long, riveting debates and stolen moments make Iris, an author struggling with writer’s block, feel newly alive.After they return to their lives in New York City, their spiky repartee continues with impassioned debates about books, reflections on a shared Chinese-American heritage and confessions of mutual attraction.When the ticking time bomb of a possible affair becomes impossible to ignore, they meet up for an epic, day-long date that will decide their future.***** Praise for Weike Wang ‘It is to Wang’s great credit that she manages to infuse such seriousness with so much light’ Ann Patchett‘I am staggered by Wang’s humour, heart and brilliance’ Lily King‘Sharp, insightful, occasionally heartbreaking, and incredibly relatable’ Gabrielle Zevin