Description

Longlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction * Time 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 * The New York Times Editors’ Choice

“I think love is when you think you need someone for your survival. Survival, defined broadly.”
“The way you think, sometimes . . .”
“The way I think, what?”
“It . . . surprises me. Yoko, we need each other. Family – family is all we have.”

‘This bold experiment . . . pays off beautifully’ Guardian
‘Simmering with secrets and tensions’ The New York Times
‘Quick-footed and captivating . . . a perfect holiday read’ Monocle

While the years rewind from 2040 to 2014, Shanghailanders brings readers into the shared and separate lives of the Yang family, parent by parent, daughter by daughter, and through the eyes of the people in their orbit-a nanny from the provinces, a private driver with a penchant for danger, and a grandmother whose memories of the past echo the present. As they build their lives in this old, futuristic city, we see Leo, his wife Eko and their daughters Yumi, Yoko and Kiko trip over their own desires in their bids to connect with one another, in their attempts to be a family.

Though the world shifts and brings change for each of the Yangs, universal constants remain: love is complex and family will always be stubbornly connected by blood, secrets and longing.

Dazzlingly constructed and achingly resonant, Shanghailanders is an unforgettable exploration of everything that follows ‘happily ever after’ and the ways a family makes and remakes itself across the years.

‘Min has established herself as a sharp chronicler of contemporary China – and of the ever-complicated matters of the heart’ Kirsten Chen, author of COUNTERFEIT
‘Never stops surprising the reader’ Jiaming Tang, author of CINEMA LOVE
‘Audacious’ Washington Post
‘Colourful and ambitious’ Dazed

Publisher Review

Tender, atmospheric, and wholly captivating . . . Min has established herself as a sharp chronicler of contemporary China-and of the ever-complicated matters of the heart. — Kirsten Chen, author of COUNTERFEIT Shanghailanders is a wonderful, wildly smart and compelling book. If Shanghai is the future, this terrific novel knows it all. We follow a glorious cluster of characters as they trip over their own longings, in this fiction of real astuteness. — Joan Silber, author of SECRETS OF HAPPINESS Bracing, thrilling, and breathtakingly smart . . . Shanghailanders offers a new way of seeing. Not just of Shanghai, but France, Japan, America, and every last corner of its characters’ minds . . . Absolutely extraordinary. — Liam Callanan, author of PARIS BY THE BOOK Lyrical and haunting, Shanghailanders explores the enduring mysteries of family . . . Min movingly portrays the Yangs and their many seasons of love and loss in a metropolis that perpetually rises, falls, and emerges from the ashes. An extraordinary debut. — Vanessa Hua, author of FORBIDDEN CITY Marvellous. — Laura Zigman, author of SMALL WORLD Smart, tender and lyrical – Shanghailanders never stops surprising the reader . . . — Jiaming Tang, author of CINEMA LOVE Readers can follow each family member throughout their life — and discover how lucky it is to have the benefit of hindsight. — Annie Lewis, “The best books to read in May 2024” * Luxury London *