Book Of The Month July 2023

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Quizlit’s Book of the Month July 2023 is Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. It’s her fifth novel and the first outside the Fantasy Genre.

June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be rising stars of the literary world. However while Athena’s now a superstar, June Hayward’s first book flopped and there might not be a second.

After a night out together for a few drinks, they end up back at Athena’s luxury apartment. A drunken decision to make pancakes unfortunately leads to the freak choking death of Athena. While waiting for the emergency services, June finds Athena’s unfinished manuscript, a novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I. The temptation was too great….

June edits and finishes Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own. A new publisher rebrands her as Juniper Song complete with an ambiguous ethnic author photo. The book is a huge hit and June/Juniper is catapulted into the spotlight.

But June is haunted by Athena’s shadow, and as the secret emerges, it threatens to bring Juniper’s success down around her. As June races to cover her trail, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks is rightfully hers.

Yellowface tackles questions of racism and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying attention of social media. It also provides an insight into the ruthless world of publishing. R.F. Kuang’s novel is a brilliant satire, thrilling, spiky and thought-provoking.

About R.F. Kuang

Rebecca F. Kuang was born May 1996 in Guangzhou, China. At the age of 4, her family her family moved to the United States and settled in Texas. Attending Georgetown University she stated writing her debut novel, just aged 19, during a gap year in China. It was published in 2018 when she was just 22.

She has continued her studies, attending Magdalene College, University of Cambridge where she earned a Master of Philosophy in Chinese studies. The following academic year, she studied at Oxford University and received an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies. The she returned to the US in 2020 to pursue a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University. She is currently still continuing her Doctorial studies at Yale.

Remarkably during all this, she has also become a prolific and successful author. After her debut novel The Poppy War, she published the sequels The Dragon Republic in 2019 and The Burning God in 2020. Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence followed in 2022. She has won a series of award for her books. Yellowface, her first non Fantasy Novel was published in May 2023.