Kirstin Chen – författare

HUSTLERS meets BIG LITTLE LIES in the heist of the summer… A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Propulsive and captivating’ Vogue ‘Darkly comedic’ Daily Mail Meet Ava: rule-abiding lawyer who has ticked all of life’s boxes. She’s married to a successful surgeon and has just taken an indefinite career break to raise her adorable toddler. A picture-perfect life.Meet Winnie: Ava’s old college roommate. Once awkward, quiet and apparently academically challenged, she left Stanford in a shroud of scandal. But now, she is charismatic, wealthy and has returned to town dripping in designer accessories. An actual perfect life.When the two women bump into one another at a local coffee shop, it seems like fate has intervened: Winnie’s new-found success is courtesy of a shady business and she needs a favour; Ava is realising she is not built for the stay-at-home life. But what starts as one favour turns into two, then three, and soon Ava is in far deeper than she ever imagined.Now Ava has to make the ultimate decision: cut and run, or risk it all? ‘Entertaining, luxurious … innovative and subversive’ NEW YORK TIMES ’Riveting and energetic’ BALLI KAUR JASWAL ’Clever, sharp, and slyly funny’ KIRKUS REVIEWS ’Will keep you breathless to the last page’ CLAIRE MESSUD ’Sly, subversive … incisive’ BOOKLIST _____NetGalley readers LOVE Counterfeit‘One of the best books I’ve read all year’ * * * * *‘Gripping … ingenious’ * * * * *‘Amusing, addictive story that kept me reading all night’ * * * * *‘Mysterious, suspenseful and twisty … had me on the edge of my seat’ * * * * * *‘Fresh, observant and somehow … an incredible story without a wasted word’ * * * * *‘I absolutely loved this book … highly recommend’ * * * * *‘Devoured this in a night or two … funny, sad and eye-opening’ * * * * *‘This book refused to allow me to put it down!’ * * * * *‘Amusing, addictive … kept me reading all night’ * * * * *

HUSTLERS meets BIG LITTLE LIES in the heist of the summer… A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Propulsive and captivating’ Vogue ‘Darkly comedic’ Daily Mail Meet Ava: rule-abiding lawyer who has ticked all of life’s boxes. She’s married to a successful surgeon and has just taken an indefinite career break to raise her adorable toddler. A picture-perfect life.Meet Winnie: Ava’s old college roommate. Once awkward, quiet and apparently academically challenged, she left Stanford in a shroud of scandal. But now, she is charismatic, wealthy and has returned to town dripping in designer accessories. An actual perfect life.When the two women bump into one another at a local coffee shop, it seems like fate has intervened: Winnie’s new-found success is courtesy of a shady business and she needs a favour; Ava is realising she is not built for the stay-at-home life. But what starts as one favour turns into two, then three, and soon Ava is in far deeper than she ever imagined.Now Ava has to make the ultimate decision: cut and run, or risk it all? ‘Entertaining, luxurious … innovative and subversive’ NEW YORK TIMES ’Riveting and energetic’ BALLI KAUR JASWAL ’Clever, sharp, and slyly funny’ KIRKUS REVIEWS ’Will keep you breathless to the last page’ CLAIRE MESSUD ’Sly, subversive … incisive’ BOOKLIST _____NetGalley readers LOVE Counterfeit‘One of the best books I’ve read all year’ * * * * *‘Gripping … ingenious’ * * * * *‘Amusing, addictive story that kept me reading all night’ * * * * *‘Mysterious, suspenseful and twisty … had me on the edge of my seat’ * * * * * *‘Fresh, observant and somehow … an incredible story without a wasted word’ * * * * *‘I absolutely loved this book … highly recommend’ * * * * *‘Devoured this in a night or two … funny, sad and eye-opening’ * * * * *‘This book refused to allow me to put it down!’ * * * * *‘Amusing, addictive … kept me reading all night’ * * * * *

HUSTLERS meets BIG LITTLE LIES in the heist of the summer…A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER‘Propulsive and captivating’ Vogue‘Darkly comedic’ Daily MailMeet Ava: rule-abiding lawyer who has ticked all of life’s boxes. She’s married to a successful surgeon and has just taken an indefinite career break to raise her adorable toddler. A picture-perfect life.Meet Winnie: Ava’s old college roommate. Once awkward, quiet and apparently academically challenged, she left Stanford in a shroud of scandal. But now, she is charismatic, wealthy and has returned to town dripping in designer accessories. An actual perfect life.When the two women bump into one another at a local coffee shop, it seems like fate has intervened: Winnie’s new-found success is courtesy of a shady business and she needs a favour; Ava is realising she is not built for the stay-at-home life. But what starts as one favour turns into two, then three, and soon Ava is in far deeper than she ever imagined.Now Ava has to make the ultimate decision: cut and run, or risk it all?‘Entertaining, luxurious … innovative and subversive’ NEW YORK TIMES’Riveting and energetic’ BALLI KAUR JASWAL’Clever, sharp, and slyly funny’ KIRKUS REVIEWS’Will keep you breathless to the last page’ CLAIRE MESSUD’Sly, subversive … incisive’ BOOKLIST_____NetGalley readers LOVE Counterfeit‘One of the best books I’ve read all year’ * * * * *‘Gripping … ingenious’ * * * * *‘Amusing, addictive story that kept me reading all night’ * * * * *‘Mysterious, suspenseful and twisty … had me on the edge of my seat’ * * * * * *‘Fresh, observant and somehow … an incredible story without a wasted word’ * * * * *‘I absolutely loved this book … highly recommend’ * * * * *‘Devoured this in a night or two … funny, sad and eye-opening’ * * * * *‘This book refused to allow me to put it down!’ * * * * *‘Amusing, addictive … kept me reading all night’ * * * * *

HUSTLERS meets BIG LITTLE LIES in the heist of the summer… A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Propulsive and captivating’ Vogue ‘Darkly comedic’ Daily Mail Meet Ava: rule-abiding lawyer who has ticked all of life’s boxes. She’s married to a successful surgeon and has just taken an indefinite career break to raise her adorable toddler. A picture-perfect life.Meet Winnie: Ava’s old college roommate. Once awkward, quiet and apparently academically challenged, she left Stanford in a shroud of scandal. But now, she is charismatic, wealthy and has returned to town dripping in designer accessories. An actual perfect life.When the two women bump into one another at a local coffee shop, it seems like fate has intervened: Winnie’s new-found success is courtesy of a shady business and she needs a favour; Ava is realising she is not built for the stay-at-home life. But what starts as one favour turns into two, then three, and soon Ava is in far deeper than she ever imagined.Now Ava has to make the ultimate decision: cut and run, or risk it all? ‘Entertaining, luxurious … innovative and subversive’ NEW YORK TIMES ’Riveting and energetic’ BALLI KAUR JASWAL ’Clever, sharp, and slyly funny’ KIRKUS REVIEWS ’Will keep you breathless to the last page’ CLAIRE MESSUD ’Sly, subversive … incisive’ BOOKLIST _____NetGalley readers LOVE Counterfeit‘One of the best books I’ve read all year’ * * * * *‘Gripping … ingenious’ * * * * *‘Amusing, addictive story that kept me reading all night’ * * * * *‘Mysterious, suspenseful and twisty … had me on the edge of my seat’ * * * * * *‘Fresh, observant and somehow … an incredible story without a wasted word’ * * * * *‘I absolutely loved this book … highly recommend’ * * * * *‘Devoured this in a night or two … funny, sad and eye-opening’ * * * * *‘This book refused to allow me to put it down!’ * * * * *‘Amusing, addictive … kept me reading all night’ * * * * *

The dazzling, daring new novel from Kirstin Chen, internationally bestselling author of Counterfeit 'Deft, unexpected, funny, heartbreaking and utterly of the moment’ Andrew Sean Greer'Every bit as much a novel about marriage as it is a thrilling peek behind the curtain of the Silicon Valley elite' Rufi Thorpe, author of Margo's Got Money Troubles All the money. All the luxury. None of the power. Sam and Cecily meet in college. Fifteen years later, they are married to two of the most powerful men in tech.Sam’s husband promises he’ll never be like the other self-obsessed, power-hungry pioneers. He wants the best for his workers. He’ll never buy a mega yacht.Cecily’s husband, Winston, is responsible for the biggest online store the world has ever seen. They both know he’d be nowhere without her ideas, and even if the world conveniently ignores her, the exquisite life they’ve built together makes it all worth it.But whispers are starting online about the missteps of both men. Terrible rumours of what they are capable of begin to surface – and soon each woman must make the ultimate choice. But how do you leave a man who runs the world?From the acclaimed author of COUNTERFEIT comes a daring novel that uncovers the ugly side of the beautiful life.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICKA con artist story, a pop-feminist caper, a fashionable romp . . . Counterfeit is an entertaining, luxurious readbut beneath its glitz and flash, it is also a shrewd deconstruction of the American dream and the myth of the model minority. . . . Chen is up to something innovative and subversive here."e; Camille Perri, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWRecommended by New York Times Book Review Washington Post People Entertainment Weekly USA Today Time Cosmopolitan Today show Harpers Bazaar Vogue Good Housekeeping Parade New York Post Town Country GMA.com Buzzfeed Goodreads Oprah Daily Popsugar Bustle theSkimm The Millions and more!For fans ofHustlersandHow to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, thestoryoftwoAsian American womenwho band together togrowa counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprisean incisive andglitteringblend offashion, crime,andfriendshipfrom the author ofBury What We Cannot TakeandSoy Sauce for Beginners.Money cant buy happiness but it can buy a decent fake.Ava Wonghas always played it safe.As a strait-laced,rule-abidingChinese American lawyer with asuccessfulsurgeonas ahusband,ayoung son,andabeautiful homeshes built theperfectlife. Butbeneath thisfaade,Avas world iscrumbling: her marriage isfalling apart,herexpensivelawdegreehasnt been usedinyears, andhertoddlers tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.Enter Winnie Fang, Avas enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China,whoabruptlydropped out under mysterious circumstances.Now, twenty years later,Winnie islooking to reconnectwith her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Avaonce knewhas been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange.The secret to her success?Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit schemethat involves importing near-exact replicas of luxuryhandbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport tohelp manageher businesssomeone whod never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava.Butwhen their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishesonce again,Avais left to face the consequences.Swift, surprising,andsharplycomic,Counterfeitisastylish and feminist caperwith a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life."e;If you appreciate a good caper, youll want to pick up Kirstin Chens novel . . . Fast-paced and fun, with smart commentary on the cultural differences between Asia and America."e; TIMEPropulsive and captivating . . . A provocative story of fashion, friendship, and fakes (in more ways than one). VOGUE

Gretchen Lin, adrift at the age of thirty, leaves her floundering marriage in San Francisco to move back to her childhood home in Singapore and immediately finds herself face-to-face with the twin headaches she’s avoided her entire adult life: her mother’s drinking problem and the machinations of her father’s artisanal soy sauce business.Surrounded by family, Gretchen struggles with the tension between personal ambition and filial duty, but still finds time to explore a new romance with the son of a client, an attractive man of few words. When an old American friend comes to town, the two of them are pulled into the controversy surrounding Gretchen’s cousin, the only male grandchild and the heir apparent to Lin’s Soy Sauce. In the midst of increasing pressure from her father to remain permanently in Singapore—and pressure from her mother to do just the opposite—Gretchen must decide whether she will return to her marriage and her graduate studies at the San Francisco Conservatory, or sacrifice everything and join her family’s crusade to spread artisanal soy sauce to the world.Soy Sauce for Beginners reveals the triumphs and sacrifices that shape one woman’s search for a place to call home, and the unexpected art and tradition behind the brewing of a much-used but unsung condiment. The result is a foodie love story that will give readers a hearty appreciation for family loyalty and fresh starts.

“Complex and rich, Chen’s story serves as a fascinating window into a unique period of history and the plight of one displaced family.” —Harper’s BazaarThe day nine-year-old San San and her twelve-year-old brother, Ah Liam, discover their grandmother taking a hammer to a framed portrait of Chairman Mao is the day that forever changes their lives. To prove his loyalty to the Party, Ah Liam reports his grandmother to the authorities. But his belief in doing the right thing sets in motion a terrible chain of events.Now they must flee their home on Drum Wave Islet, which sits just a few hundred meters across the channel from mainland China. But when their mother goes to procure visas for safe passage to Hong Kong, the government will only issue them on the condition that she leave behind one of her children as proof of the family’s intention to return.Against the backdrop of early Maoist China, this captivating and emotional tale follows a brother, a sister, a father, and a mother as they grapple with their agonizing decision, its far-reaching consequences, and their hope for redemption.