River East, River West: A Novel
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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 worldโperfect for readers ofย Behold the Dreamers,ย White Ivy, andย The Leavers.
Shanghai, 2007: Fourteen-year-old Alva has always longed for more. Raised by her American expat mother, sheโs 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, Alvaโs 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 countryโs harsh political reforms. So when China opens its doors to the first wave of foreigners in decades, Lu Fangโs world is split wide openย after he meets an American woman who makes him confront difficult questions aboutย 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 Chinaโs political history and economic rise,ย River East, River Westย is an intimate family drama and a sharp social novel. Alternating between Alva and Lu Fangโs points of view, this is a profoundlyย moving exploration of race and class, cultural identity and belonging, and the often-false promise of the American Dream.
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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 Writersโ 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.
