by Weike Wang (Author)

PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD WINNER - WHITING AWARD WINNER - Smart, moving, and funny, a unique coming-of-age story about a quirky, overworked narrator who seems to be on the cusp of a perfect life but finds herself on a new path of discoveries about everything she thought she knew.

"Told in a hilarious deadpan that recalls Gish Jen and Nora Ephron." --O, The Oprah Magazine

At first glance, the life of the narrator of Weike Wang's debut novel seems ideal: she is studying for a prestigious PhD in chemistry that will make her Chinese parents proud (or at least satisfied), and her successful, supportive boyfriend has just proposed to her. But instead of feeling hopeful, she is wracked with ambivalence: the long, demanding hours at the lab have created an exquisite pressure cooker, and she doesn't know how to answer the marriage question. Soon it all becomes too much and her life plan veers off course....

Author Biography

WEIKE WANG is a graduate of Harvard University, where she earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry and her doctorate in public health. Her first novel, Chemistry, received the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction, Ploughshares' John C. Zacharis Award, and a Whiting Award. A "5 Under 35" honoree of the National Book Foundation, Weike currently lives in New York City.