Central Places

Delia Cai’s sharp, swiftly moving, darkly funny debut novel….[is a] compassion filled delight * The Times, Book of the Month * A sensitive, sharp-eyed, slyly funny story of venturing back into the foreign country that is your past--and discovering that you can never really shake the places and people that shaped you . . . This book will resonate with anyone who's tried to navigate the confusing terrain of family tensions, lost friendships, or embarrassing memories of youth: in short, pretty much everyone. * Celeste Ng, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts * Delia Cai fully renders the uneasy marriage between past and present. Central Places is honest about the strangeness and revelation of returning home. * Raven Leilani, New York Times bestselling author of Luster * An incandescent debut shedding light on old friendships, half-forgotten selves, and ferocious longings past and present, Central Places is a revelation, disquieting and so very moving, and dazzling with insight. * R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries * A moving, nuanced novel about race, class, and the unspoken power dynamics of an interracial relationship, Central Places negotiates the personal and the political with unsparing precision. Delia Cai has created an indelible cast of uniquely complicated characters. A spiky, intelligent narrator leads the story--readers will root for Audrey to win, even as her definition of triumph shifts with every chapter in this masterful debut. * Jean Chen Ho, author of Fiona and Jane *