Genre Fiction
![Jean Chen Ho - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B093HHZ1J1.jpg)
Fiona and Jane
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2022 BY TIME * PARADE * GOOD HOUSEKEEPING * MARIE CLAIRE * THE RUMPUS * DEBUTIFUL * AND MORE!
"A knockout of a book." -Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer and The Committed
"Fiona and Jane is the book I did not know I was waiting to be written. . . . Read this remarkable work of fiction and feel the world open up around you." -Angela Flournoy, author of National Book Award finalist The Turner House
"Unsentimental, subtly subversive, and always surprising. . . . I love this book." -Cathy Park Hong, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist Minor Feelings
A witty, warm, and irreverent book that traces the lives of two young Taiwanese American women as they navigate friendship, sexuality, identity, and heartbreak over two decades.
Best friends since second grade, Fiona Lin and Jane Shen explore the lonely freeways and seedy bars of Los Angeles together through their teenage years, surviving unfulfilling romantic encounters, and carrying with them the scars of their families' tumultuous pasts. Fiona was always destined to leave, her effortless beauty burnished by fierce ambition-qualities that Jane admired and feared in equal measure. When Fiona moves to New York and cares for a sick friend through a breakup with an opportunistic boyfriend, Jane remains in California and grieves her estranged father's sudden death, in the process alienating an overzealous girlfriend. Strained by distance and unintended betrayals, the women float in and out of each other's lives, their friendship both a beacon of home and a reminder of all they've lost.
In stories told in alternating voices, Jean Chen Ho's debut collection peels back the layers of female friendship-the intensity, resentment, and boundless love-to probe the beating hearts of young women coming to terms with themselves, and each other, in light of the insecurities and shame that holds them back.
Spanning countries and selves, Fiona and Jane is an intimate portrait of a friendship, a deep dive into the universal perplexities of being young and alive, and a bracingly honest account of two Asian women who dare to stake a claim on joy in a changing, contemporary America.
"A knockout of a book." -Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer and The Committed
"Fiona and Jane is the book I did not know I was waiting to be written. . . . Read this remarkable work of fiction and feel the world open up around you." -Angela Flournoy, author of National Book Award finalist The Turner House
"Unsentimental, subtly subversive, and always surprising. . . . I love this book." -Cathy Park Hong, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist Minor Feelings
A witty, warm, and irreverent book that traces the lives of two young Taiwanese American women as they navigate friendship, sexuality, identity, and heartbreak over two decades.
Best friends since second grade, Fiona Lin and Jane Shen explore the lonely freeways and seedy bars of Los Angeles together through their teenage years, surviving unfulfilling romantic encounters, and carrying with them the scars of their families' tumultuous pasts. Fiona was always destined to leave, her effortless beauty burnished by fierce ambition-qualities that Jane admired and feared in equal measure. When Fiona moves to New York and cares for a sick friend through a breakup with an opportunistic boyfriend, Jane remains in California and grieves her estranged father's sudden death, in the process alienating an overzealous girlfriend. Strained by distance and unintended betrayals, the women float in and out of each other's lives, their friendship both a beacon of home and a reminder of all they've lost.
In stories told in alternating voices, Jean Chen Ho's debut collection peels back the layers of female friendship-the intensity, resentment, and boundless love-to probe the beating hearts of young women coming to terms with themselves, and each other, in light of the insecurities and shame that holds them back.
Spanning countries and selves, Fiona and Jane is an intimate portrait of a friendship, a deep dive into the universal perplexities of being young and alive, and a bracingly honest account of two Asian women who dare to stake a claim on joy in a changing, contemporary America.
Editorial Reviews
"The complex depth of female friendship provides endless fodder for Jean Chen Ho in her debut novel, Fiona and Jane. Centering on nearly two decades of best friendship between the two titular Taiwanese American women, the [book] reads like a love letter to the beauty and intensity of their relationship. Bonded by their shared experience of coming of age in Los Angeles in immigrant families, Fiona and Jane's friendship is challenged over the years by distance, romantic relationships and betrayal. But throughout it all, they are constants in each other's lives-reminders for one another of who they once were and all that they can be."
-Time, "The 21 Most Anticipated Books of 2022"
"This frank and moving debut by Jean Chen Ho, told in short stories from differing eras and perspectives, follows a pair of Taiwanese American best friends as they navigate grief, ambition, and the changing realities of their friendship."
-Marie Claire, "The Most Eagerly Anticipated Fiction by Women in 2022"
"Fiona and Jane are best friends, navigating their tumultuous teenage years together, as well as their family histories and all that comes with them. But when Fiona moves across the country, their bond weakens and threatens to break. This [book] about the power of female friendship will give you a gorgeous peek into both women's perspectives on a shared story that has as many facets as they do."
-Good Housekeeping, "The 15 Best and Most-Anticipated Books of 2022"
"Spanning the globe and 20 years of friendship, two Taiwanese-American women grow up, grow apart and grow together in love, secrets, grief and heartbreak."
-Parade, "30 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2022"
"Compelling. . . . Fiona and Jane-both earnest, curious and heart-full-epitomize the realities of growing up in America as young women, as immigrants, as Asian Americans. Their arcs show how families complicate one's life while also enriching it, how friends can become a found family, and how every choice can echo in and reflect a person's whole life. By the [book's] end, readers will feel as though they carry some part of these women with them, as if Fiona and Jane are our friends, as if their stories might yet overlap with our own."
-BookPage (starred review)
"With Fiona and Jane, Jean Ho announces herself as a bold and provocative new talent to watch out for. In this sexy and stylish set of stories about friendship, love, loyalty, and betrayal, she fearlessly delves into the intimacies between women and delivers a knockout of a book."
-Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer and The Commit...
-Time, "The 21 Most Anticipated Books of 2022"
"This frank and moving debut by Jean Chen Ho, told in short stories from differing eras and perspectives, follows a pair of Taiwanese American best friends as they navigate grief, ambition, and the changing realities of their friendship."
-Marie Claire, "The Most Eagerly Anticipated Fiction by Women in 2022"
"Fiona and Jane are best friends, navigating their tumultuous teenage years together, as well as their family histories and all that comes with them. But when Fiona moves across the country, their bond weakens and threatens to break. This [book] about the power of female friendship will give you a gorgeous peek into both women's perspectives on a shared story that has as many facets as they do."
-Good Housekeeping, "The 15 Best and Most-Anticipated Books of 2022"
"Spanning the globe and 20 years of friendship, two Taiwanese-American women grow up, grow apart and grow together in love, secrets, grief and heartbreak."
-Parade, "30 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2022"
"Compelling. . . . Fiona and Jane-both earnest, curious and heart-full-epitomize the realities of growing up in America as young women, as immigrants, as Asian Americans. Their arcs show how families complicate one's life while also enriching it, how friends can become a found family, and how every choice can echo in and reflect a person's whole life. By the [book's] end, readers will feel as though they carry some part of these women with them, as if Fiona and Jane are our friends, as if their stories might yet overlap with our own."
-BookPage (starred review)
"With Fiona and Jane, Jean Ho announces herself as a bold and provocative new talent to watch out for. In this sexy and stylish set of stories about friendship, love, loyalty, and betrayal, she fearlessly delves into the intimacies between women and delivers a knockout of a book."
-Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer and The Commit...
