Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2025
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.
