HUSTLERS meets BIG LITTLE LIES in the heist of the summer…

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

‘Propulsive and captivating’ Vogue

‘Darkly comedic’ Daily Mail

Meet Ava: rule-abiding lawyer who has ticked all of life’s boxes. She’s married to a successful surgeon and has just taken an indefinite career break to raise her adorable toddler. A picture-perfect life.

Meet Winnie: Ava’s old college roommate. Once awkward, quiet and apparently academically challenged, she left Stanford in a shroud of scandal. But now, she is charismatic, wealthy and has returned to town dripping in designer accessories. An actual perfect life.

When the two women bump into one another at a local coffee shop, it seems like fate has intervened: Winnie’s new-found success is courtesy of a shady business and she needs a favour; Ava is realising she is not built for the stay-at-home life. But what starts as one favour turns into two, then three, and soon Ava is in far deeper than she ever imagined.

Now Ava has to make the ultimate decision: cut and run, or risk it all?

‘Entertaining, luxurious … innovative and subversive’ NEW YORK TIMES

’Riveting and energetic’ BALLI KAUR JASWAL

’Clever, sharp, and slyly funny’ KIRKUS REVIEWS

’Will keep you breathless to the last page’ CLAIRE MESSUD

’Sly, subversive … incisive’ BOOKLIST

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NetGalley readers LOVE Counterfeit

‘One of the best books I’ve read all year’ * * * * *
‘Gripping … ingenious’ * * * * *
‘Amusing, addictive story that kept me reading all night’ * * * * *
‘Mysterious, suspenseful and twisty … had me on the edge of my seat’ * * * * * *
‘Fresh, observant and somehow … an incredible story without a wasted word’ * * * * *
‘I absolutely loved this book … highly recommend’ * * * * *
‘Devoured this in a night or two … funny, sad and eye-opening’ * * * * *
‘This book refused to allow me to put it down!’ * * * * *
‘Amusing, addictive … kept me reading all night’ * * * * *

Gretchen Lin, adrift at the age of thirty, leaves her floundering marriage in San Francisco to move back to her childhood home in Singapore and immediately finds herself face-to-face with the twin headaches she’s avoided her entire adult life: her mother’s drinking problem and the machinations of her father’s artisanal soy sauce business.

Surrounded by family, Gretchen struggles with the tension between personal ambition and filial duty, but still finds time to explore a new romance with the son of a client, an attractive man of few words. When an old American friend comes to town, the two of them are pulled into the controversy surrounding Gretchen’s cousin, the only male grandchild and the heir apparent to Lin’s Soy Sauce. In the midst of increasing pressure from her father to remain permanently in Singapore—and pressure from her mother to do just the opposite—Gretchen must decide whether she will return to her marriage and her graduate studies at the San Francisco Conservatory, or sacrifice everything and join her family’s crusade to spread artisanal soy sauce to the world.

Soy Sauce for Beginners reveals the triumphs and sacrifices that shape one woman’s search for a place to call home, and the unexpected art and tradition behind the brewing of a much-used but unsung condiment. The result is a foodie love story that will give readers a hearty appreciation for family loyalty and fresh starts.

“Complex and rich, Chen’s story serves as a fascinating window into a unique period of history and the plight of one displaced family.” —Harper’s Bazaar

The day nine-year-old San San and her twelve-year-old brother, Ah Liam, discover their grandmother taking a hammer to a framed portrait of Chairman Mao is the day that forever changes their lives. To prove his loyalty to the Party, Ah Liam reports his grandmother to the authorities. But his belief in doing the right thing sets in motion a terrible chain of events.

Now they must flee their home on Drum Wave Islet, which sits just a few hundred meters across the channel from mainland China. But when their mother goes to procure visas for safe passage to Hong Kong, the government will only issue them on the condition that she leave behind one of her children as proof of the family’s intention to return.

Against the backdrop of early Maoist China, this captivating and emotional tale follows a brother, a sister, a father, and a mother as they grapple with their agonizing decision, its far-reaching consequences, and their hope for redemption.

Die dreißigjährige Gretchen Lin treibt ruhelos durchs Leben, nimmt sich kurzerhand eine Auszeit von San Francisco und ihrer scheiternden Ehe, und kehrt nach Singapur in ihr Elternhaus zurück. Dort muss sie sich mit zwei unbequemen Wahrheiten auseinandersetzen, vor denen sie ihr Leben lang Reißaus genommen hat: das Alkoholproblem ihrer Mutter und die Machenschaften in der Sojasoßen-Manufaktur ihres Vaters. Inmitten ihrer Familie ist Gretchen hin- und hergerissen zwischen dem Wunsch nach persönlicher Selbstverwirklichung und ihren Pflichten als Tochter. Dennoch beginnt sie eine Romanze mit dem Sohn eines Kunden – einem gleichermaßen attraktiven wie stillen Mann. Als eine alte Freundin aus Amerika in die Stadt kommt, werden beide in den schwelenden Konflikt um Gretchens Cousin, dem einzigen männlichen Enkelkind und Erben von ‚Lin’s Sojasoße’, hineingezogen. Der Druck auf Gretchen wächst: Ihr Vater wünscht sich, sie möge für immer in Singapur bleiben, ihre Mutter rät ihr, nach San Francisco zurückzukehren. Gretchen muss sich entscheiden, ob sie ihre Ehe fortführt und ihr Studium abschließt, oder ob sie alles aufgibt, um gemeinsam mit ihrer Familie den weltweiten Siegeszug des traditionellen Sojasoßen-Handwerks voranzutreiben.