How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster

How to Fall in Love in Time of Unnameable Disaster

asian american, books, debut books, lgbt, novels, publishing

A dark and tender debut set against a writhing backdrop of postapocalyptic New York City.

Acid rainstorms have transformed New York City into a toxic wasteland, cutting its remaining citizens off from one another. In one apartment building, an unlikely family of humans and ghosts survives. Mira reels from a devastating breakup with her partner, Mal, whose whereabouts are unknown, while her mother is plagued by furious dreams and her grandfather, Grandpa Why, stakes his claims as a rambunctious ghost. Across the hall, the cockroach Shin, also a ghost. As the world around them worsens, each character must learn to redefine what it means to live, die, and love at the end of the world.

A singular work of fiction: joyfully grotesque and ridiculously sexy. Muriel Leung’s characters—ghosts, vermin, apocalypse survivors all—made me laugh out loud as often as they broke my heart. I loved it all, every single word.
— Jean Chen Ho, author of Fiona and Jane

A dark and tender debut set against a writhing backdrop of postapocalyptic New York City.

Acid rainstorms have transformed New York City into a toxic wasteland, cutting its remaining citizens off from one another. In one apartment building, an unlikely family of humans and ghosts survives. Mira reels from a devastating breakup with her partner, Mal, whose whereabouts are unknown, while her mother is plagued by furious dreams and her grandfather, Grandpa Why, stakes his claims as a rambunctious ghost. Across the hall, the cockroach Shin, also a ghost. As the world around them worsens, each character must learn to redefine what it means to live, die, and love at the end of the world.

Purchase How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster:

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W.W. Norton & Company
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Muriel Leung gives us such elegance and tenderness and visions of loss and connection inside this broken world.
— Aimee Bender, author of The Butterfly Lampshade
An astonishing feat of the imagination and the human heart, this book is a one-of-a-kind experience. A haunting and exquisite debut novel.
— Elaine Hsieh Chou, author of Disorientation
Muriel Leung builds a hypnotic world where the real and the spectral are layered like watercolors. To read this book is to be heartbroken, haunted, and, ultimately, healed.
— Jenny Xie, author of Holding Pattern
Astonishing . . . writhes with heartbreak and wonder. Visionary, horny, and surprising at every turn, this novel is a triumph.
— Henry Hoke, author of Open Throat