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A Novel
by Aube Rey Lescure
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.
"Captivating and sharp... Rey Lescure provides immersive depictions of Shanghai and Qingdao along with delicate character work. This is a remarkable story of a family caught between cultures." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Rey Lescure's brilliant debut alternates between the lives of Lu Fang and Alva, placing their desires and evolving story lines in a vibrant social context... With an assured hand, Rey Lescure illuminates how even someone who feels trapped and diminished can still make a life." —Booklist (starred review)
"An ambitious, innovative take on both the immigrant and coming-of-age novel." —Kirkus Reviews
"River East, River West is a searing and intimate exploration of both China and the American Dream. Poignant and propulsive, thoughtful, and moving. I loved this book." —Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee
"In Aube Rey Lescure's beautiful debut novel, familiar narratives of adolescence are scrambled across lines of class, race, and national difference. As her characters deepen with each chapter, she makes us feel the inexhaustible mystery of other lives. A moving portrait of the love between a mother and daughter, River East, River West portrays, too, our powerlessness against the riptides of history." —Garth Greenwell, author of Cleanness
"River East, River West is a beautifully expansive tale of new beginnings—and the pasts we can't extricate ourselves from. From Qingdao to Shanghai, readers are invited into a richly layered world teeming with secrets, desires, and unexpected tenderness. Bright human insights shine through unforgettable characters fighting for their autonomy, often straining against familial bonds for a glimpse of freedom. In this exciting literary debut, Aube Rey Lescure deftly illuminates the difficult choices we make to save ourselves and each other." —Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon
This information about River East, River West was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Aube Rey Lescure is a French-Chinese-American writer who grew up between Shanghai, northern China, and the south of France. After receiving her B.A. from Yale University, she worked in foreign policy and has co-authored and translated two books on Chinese politics and economics. She was the 2019 Ivan Gold Fellow at the Writers' Room of Boston, a Pauline Scheer Fellow at GrubStreet, a finalist for the 2018 Boston Public Library Writer-in-Residence program, and an artist-in-residence at the Studios of Key West and Willapa Bay AiR. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in Guernica, Best American Essays, The Florida Review online, WBUR, and more.
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