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AudioBook information:
Author: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Carolyn Kang
Release date: September 8, 2026
Audiobook Duration: 10 h 25 min

Summary: From R.F. Kuang, the acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author of Katabasis and Yellowface, comes a wryly humorous and profoundly moving coming-of-age novel that grapples with grief, language, and culture shock—all set against the backdrop of an unforgettable summer in Taipei.

Narrated by Carolyn Kang.

College freshman Lily Chen is off to spend the summer in Taipei at an intensive language program like so many Chinese American students before her, hoping to connect with the culture she inherited but never fully understood. But a promising start quickly unravels. Her classes are grueling, her roommate is driving her insane, and a reckless trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon has her classmates viciously gossiping. She feels adrift, a foreigner in a country she thought would feel like home.

Then shocking news arrives: Lily’s grandfather has passed away. The loss forces her to grapple with now-unanswerable questions about her family history. As Lily grieves, she’s drawn into a journey of self-discovery—piecing together memories, stories, and silences over a series of hilarious and devastating attempts at connection.

Taipei Story asks: What if the diaspora fantasy of homecoming never comes true? What if learning a language can’t bring you any closer to the people you’re trying to reach? What if you search for your family’s history, but your family doesn’t want to share? What if you wait too long to ask the right questions? As Lily struggles for answers, her summer becomes a poignant search for understanding—of herself, her family, and the meaning of home.

Reviews:

“Quiet, moving and thought-provoking, Taipei Story is an examination of how the stories we inherit shape who we are. It will speak to anyone who set out to learn how to belong, only to discover that they first needed to answer the question “Who am I?” – Bookpage

“Hard to put down, harder to forget.” – Stephen King on Yellowface

“Viciously satisfying…addictive.” – New York Times Book Review on Yellowface

“As ever, Kuang raises uncomfortable questions about history, ethnicity, and identity and leaves it for readers to determine whether Lily has come to the right conclusions and how much growing up she still has left to do. A visceral exploration of language as a bridge and a barrier.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Reading Yellowface felt like being inside a wild, brutal, psychological knife fight with a deranged clown. A merciless satire that left me screaming inside… from both its horror and humor.” – Constance Wu, star of Crazy Rich Asians and author of Making a Scene

“Rich with allusion and illusion, Kuang crafts a witty, gory, harrowing ride that thoroughly roasts the perils and power structures of academia, while never losing sight of what it means to have a fragile, human heart.”  – #1 New York Times bestselling author, Leigh Bardugo on Katabasis

“‘Katabasis’ shines with devastatingly real characters and absorbing world building.” – New York Times

“A spellbinding and poignant story that had me riveted to the pages, R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis is more than a novel to savor. This book is an experience. I envy those who get to read it for the first time.”  – Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals

“Her magnificent novel uses satire to shine a light on systemic racial discrimination and the truth that often hides behind the twisted narratives constructed by those in power.” – Booklist (starred review) of Yellowface

About the Author:

Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, Yellowface, and Katabasis. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.