Standalone Novels
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| What We Were Promised | 2018 | Buy |
Lucy Tan’s debut novel What We Were Promised (2018) follows the Zhen family after they return to Shanghai from America. Living in a luxury high-rise, they navigate the tensions between old loyalties and new wealth. The novel examines class, family obligation, and what it means to go home to a place that has changed beyond recognition.
The book is told from three perspectives: Wei Zhen, his wife Lina, and their housekeeper Sunny. Each voice offers a different view of modern Shanghai, from the luxury apartments of the new elite to the service workers who maintain them. A missing family heirloom sets the plot in motion.
Tan grew up in New Jersey and spent time living in Shanghai. She holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. What We Were Promised was her first novel, and it was praised for its controlled prose and its portrait of a city in rapid transformation.