Yellowface

　　她終於如願成為暢銷作家，但是書卻不是她寫的…
 
　　June Hayward和Athena Liu都從耶魯大學出身，畢業後也都一同搬到了華盛頓居住，並成為作家，然而兩人的共通點就到此為止。當June還只是個無名之輩，並正索盡枯腸為自己第二部作品構思時，Athena已然成為文學界的新寵兒。因此就在June目擊到導致Athena死亡的那場意外後，一時鬼使神差，就拿走了Athena剛完稿的一篇實驗性小說，寫著關於一戰下，那些一直以來被低估的中國勞工兵團的事蹟。無論說故事的人是誰，難道這個故事不該被眾人發掘嗎？June說服自己，因此一番編輯後，就以自己的名義出版，作品一炮而紅。
 
　　然而June根本無心享受緊接而來的鎂光燈，她始終無法擺脫Athena的影子。咄咄相逼的社群媒體、寫作上的障礙，June必須盡全力藏住這個秘密才行⋯⋯

　　(文／博客來外文館)

　　What’s the harm in a pseudonym? Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.

　　Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

　　So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.

　　So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

　　But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

　　With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.