Contemporary

When a class war erupts inside a luxurious apartment block, modern elevators become battlegrounds and cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on ‘enemy’ floors.

In Bangkok, a plot of land behind a city slum resonates with the hopes, dreams and fears of the local community.

The story of /1404er/; a forum with anonymous users and how the descent into the dark web is a deep and deprived black hole.

After five people die in an unexplained house fire, club manager Frank pleads guilty; but nobody believes him. When his brother Charles arrives, intent on unravelling the mystery, he uncovers the secret world behind the resort’s civilized image.

The novel tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her.

Rin’s madly in love with her husband. Then he disappears to the bathroom while he thinks Rin is sleeping, and she starts to imagine that he has gone to seduce the flight attendant. As her thoughts spiral, the phrase ‘madly in love’ takes on a more sinister meaning.

With acute social insight, Chen layers years of experience reporting in China with incantatory prose in this taut debut, proving herself both a remarkable cultural critic and an accomplished literary voice.

The novel opens with the thoughts of a sex doll as she comes to consciousness inside her crate, about to be delivered to the apartment of her owner, J.