Jennifer Feeley

"A powerful novel set in a Hong Kong that feels remarkably universal." —Mohsin Hamid, author of Exit West"A dazzling, page-turning novel...Gripping, specific, important, and highly satisfying.” —Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot and Either/OrA powerful, award-winning novel that follows the lives of two women as democracy starts to crumble in Hong KongOn a weekend morning, college roommates Ah Lei and Panda wake up with very different reactions to the night before. They have been chased and tear-gassed in the streets of their city after joining tens of thousands of others to protest a national security law that would effectively spell the end of democracy in Hong Kong. Ah Lei can’t get out of bed, her heart heavy with the lingering images of the police and the violence on the streets, and her worries about the future of her hometown. Panda, whose resistance is no less ardent, puts on a sundress, lines her eyes, and urges Ah Lei to join her for brunch.While the demonstrations rage, the routine of life also persists for Ah Lei, Panda, and people in their orbits. They attend family gatherings, fight with their mothers, try and fail to focus at work on Mondays, and make time for dinner dates and app hookups. But the looming political tension and anxiety for the future transform such everyday encounters. In the span of a few months, life as they know it seems to become a mirage: the comfort of air-conditioned shopping malls is disrupted by bloodshed; tear gas and the sounds of rubber bullets amid neon signs strangely evoke happier memories of summer night fireworks.Gigi L. Leung’s visceral novel Everyday Movement reveals existential questions that interrupt normal life: belonging, patriotism, and the meaningfulness of an electoral democracy, as well as the pampering sense of normalcy created by consumerism. Fiery and tender, Leung’s writing captures the heartbreak, turmoil, and rebirth in bearing witness to and engaging with a shattering reality.

Wai and Ling are secondary school Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong, both crumbling under the pressure of a forced transition from using Cantonese to Mandarin as a medium of Chinese-language instruction. Apolitical and focused only on surviving their professional environment, Wai and Ling approach the challenge differently: Wai, awkward and unpopular, becomes obsessed with Mandarin learning, only to fail the qualification exam, lose her job, become mentally ill, and kill herself by inserting a drill into her head. Ling is polished and cunning, she knows how to please her superiors and believes she can tactfully dodge the Mandarin challenge through her social savviness. Ling sees herself haunted and mirrored by Wai's tragedy: things around her slowly spiral out of control and her colleagues begin to shun her too. What will she do to survive in a ruthless environment where the rules of survival are constantly being re-written? Tongueless is a taut, compelling novel of betrayal, power imbalance and rapid social change.