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A Novel
by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
A captivating debut following a cross-country road trip that will make you believe in the goodness of people, Off the Books sheds light on the power in humanity during the most troubled of times.
Recent Dartmouth dropout Mei, in search of a new direction in life, drives a limo to make ends meet. Her grandfather convinces her to allow her customers to pay under the table, and before she knows it, she is working as a routine chauffeur for sex workers. Mei does her best to mind her own business, but her knack for discretion soon leads her on a life changing trip from San Francisco to Syracuse with a new client.
Handsome and reserved, Henry piques Mei's interest. Toting an enormous black suitcase with him everywhere he goes, he's more concerned with taking frequent breaks than making good time on the road. When Mei discovers Henry's secret, she does away with her usual close-lipped demeanor and decides she has no choice but to confront him. What Henry reveals rocks her to her core and shifts this once casual, transactional road trip to one of moral stakes and dangerous consequences.
An original take on the great American road trip, Off the Books is a beautifully crafted coming of age story that showcases the resilience of the human spirit and the power of doing the right thing. The spirit of Frazier's characters will stay with readers long after they have arrived at their destination.
"[Frazier] has a knack for writing funny dialogue—scathing sarcasm underpinned by a great deal of love—and there are plenty of hilarious exchanges to lighten the dark political context of the novel. A vital, enthralling debut in which devastating social commentary is delivered with a wink." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Delightfully offbeat yet weighty ... It's a fresh take on the classic American road novel." ―Publishers Weekly
"Beneath a budding romance and roadside banter, the story of the humanitarian crisis of the Uyghurs in China is masterfully presented, interweaving an international story with a more domestic one of what it means to be Chinese in the U.S. Frazier's debut proves to be an enthralling ride, perfect for those who love an American road trip with a twist." —Booklist
"This book tossed me into the back of the car and drove me out to horizons that were startling, hopeful and utterly captivating." ―Daniel "Lemony Snicket" Handler, bestselling author of A Series of Unfortunate Events
"Off the Books made me put my kid to bed late―but I'm not mad about it! Instead, I'm grateful to Soma Mei Sheng Frazier for this riveting read. Without a doubt, one of the most complex, cool, hilarious, politically astute, and unexpected yet totally necessary novels I've read in forever." ―Kate Schatz, New York Times bestselling author of Do the Work and Rad American Women A-Z
"What an improbable page-turner! Suspenseful and political, Off the Books proves deeply compassionate as well. A real pleasure." ―Gish Jen, author of The Resisters
This information about Off the Books 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.
Soma Mei Sheng Frazier's work has earned nods and awards from numerous authors and entities. Her stories have been published in Glimmer Train, ZYZZYVA, the Mississippi Review, and Hyphen, amongst others. She relocated from California, where she was a San Francisco Library Laureate, to New York, for a professorship in creative writing and digital storytelling at SUNY Oswego. Soma has taught at the University of Silicon Valley, the Sarah Lawrence College Summer High School Writers Program, the University of San Francisco, Oakland School for the Arts, Holy Names University, Gavilan College, and Valhalla Women's Correctional Facility―and she worked at KQED, a premier national public media source in the Bay Area.
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