A dazzling coming-of-age literary novel of first love and loss by R.F. Kuang, #1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of YELLOWFACE and KATABASIS, new for 2026

For Lily, mastering Chinese means connection:

To her family

Her heritage

To herself

But what if waiting for perfection means it's too late to get the answers she wants most?

The hugely exciting literary novel from bestselling phenomenon Rebecca F. Kuang: a moving coming-of-age story set in Taiwan, about identity, language, love and grief - for fans of Sally Rooney and Coco Mellors. TAIPEI STORY is the hotly anticipated new novel by Rebecca F. Kuang, an intensely moving exploration of identity and language, love and grief. When Yale student Lily arrives in Taipei for a summer''s study at the National Taiwan University, she''s looking forward to working on her Chinese language and finding her Chinese self. If only it was that simple. When her grandfather suddenly dies, Lily discovers a past so profoundly heartbreaking that she finds herself stuck, unable to move forward. But her grandfather''s story is not her own; none of it happened to her. How can Lily reconcile who she is, with where her family are from, when she is caught between their past and her present?

Autorentext

R.F Kuang is the author of The Poppy War Trilogy, *Babel: An Arcane History,*and Yellowface. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, and British Book Awards. She is pursuing a PhD in East Asian Language and Literature at Yale.

Klappentext

TAIPEI STORY is the electrifying new novel by bestselling literary phenomenon Rebecca F. Kuang, a profoundly moving coming-of-age story that explores first love, second language and final goodbyes - all set against the backdrop of one unforgettable summer in Taipei. First love. Second language. Final goodbyes. Yale student Lily Chen arrives in Taipei hungry: for family, for culture, for connection.

But her summer of discovery quickly unravels. Her classes are grueling, her roommate unbearable, and a reckless, deeply awkward trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon ignites vicious gossip.

Then her grandfather dies.

Grieving and adrift, Lily must confront her own questions about the culture she inherited but never fully understood. She embarks on a wryly funny, often devastating search for understanding: of herself, her family, and the meaning of home.

All over one unforgettable summer in Taipei. For fans of Coco Mellors, Sally Rooney and Patricia Lockwood. There is a wildness and freedom to her work that is extraordinary. Her characters are complex and human; nothing feels contrived' TIME MAGAZINE