PAPER NAMES

A Book of the Month Club Pick

A Good Morning America Buzz Pick

A Brit+Co Book to Read in 2023

A Publishers Lunch Buzz Book

A Reader's Digest Best Book of 2023

An Amazon Editor’s Pick

A Stylist UK Unmissable Book

A Town & Country Best Book to Read in May

An unexpected act of violence brings together a Chinese-American family and a wealthy white lawyer in this propulsive and sweeping story of family, identity and the American experience.

Set in New York and China over three decades, Paper Names explores what it means to be American from three different perspectives. There’s Tony, a Chinese-born engineer turned Manhattan doorman, who immigrated to the United States to give his family a better life. His daughter, Tammy, who we meet at age nine and follow through adulthood, and who grapples with the expectations of a first generation American and her own personal desires. Finally, there’s Oliver, a handsome white lawyer with a dark family secret and who lives in the building where Tony works. A violent attack causes their lives to intertwine in ways that will change them forever.

Taut, panoramic, and powerful, Paper Names is an unforgettable story about the long shadows of our parents, the ripple effect of our decisions and the ways in which our love transcends difference.

Available at your local bookstores in the United States, Canada, and Australia, as well as online at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Bookshop | HarperCollins | IndieBound | Audible

For purchases in the United Kingdom: London Review Bookshop | Waterstones | Verve | Bookshop UK | Amazon | eBook

“A panoramic debut.”

-Book Bub

  • A literary page-turner that is as unsettling as it is full of grace. Susie Luo’s debut is unblinking, nimble, and written with the kind of clarity one expects from a seasoned author. The word stunning is not hyperbole here.

    Brian Castleberry, award-winning author of Nine Shiny Objects

  • So alive and real, you don’t merely read this wondrous novel as much as you get to live it.

    Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You

  • Paper Names is one of the most compelling evocations of the American Dream I’ve ever read… [a] carefully observed portrait of the imperfect nature of love, and the fraught, untamable state of being human.

    Jack Livings, award-winning author of The Blizzard Party

  • Empathetic, propulsive, and timely, Luo's confident plotting shines in this story of three Americans attempting to redefine themselves in a changing country as their pasts and futures collide. A magnificent debut.

    J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest

  • Explosive and riveting, the story whipstitches in and out of time like a golden needle… Brilliant.

    Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Left Undone

  • With a keen eye for detail, a strong sense of pacing, and a deep understanding of human nature, Susie Luo crafts a moving portrait of two families whose fates intertwine.

    Christina Baker Kline, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan Train

  • Paper Names has the rare one-two punch of plot twists and sharp, absorbing prose.

    Katie Runde, author of The Shore

  • Susie Luo is a wonderful new talent as she paints a picture of a building in New York, the residents, the drama and more.

    Good Morning America

  • [A] well-woven tale about the legacies that are passed down through generations, even when family members upend their lives in search of distance from one another.

    BookPage

  • [A] compelling exploration of identity, trauma, and the false promises of the American Dream.

    International Examiner

  • Luo explores past and present, tense family relationships and shock acts of violence and desire. It's beautifully written and thought-provoking.

    Stylist UK

  • A moving story of immigrants in America.

    Town & Country