The Original Daughter

Wei debuts with a sensitive if occasionally overwritten portrait of two sisters as they come of age in 1990s Singapore. Gen is an only child until age eight, when her family takes in seven-year-old Arin under scandalous circumstances. It turns out Gen’s grandfather had not in fact been politically exiled from Singapore decades earlier; instead, he’d secretly established a second family in Malaysia. Now, having fallen on hard times, his Malaysian son begs Gen’s family to take in Arin, his youngest daughter. Initially fearful and standoffish, Arin eventually becomes part of the family, and the girls cement their sisterly bond. During adolescence, Gen buckles under the crushing pressure of the Singaporean academic system and auditions for hosting shows on a local YouTube channel, while Arin, who excels academically, lands a gig on a YouTube gaming show. The dual timeline narrative shuffles from their childhood to 2015, when Gen reveals and reflects on their legacy of betrayals. Though a middle section chronicling Gen’s faltering attempts at adulting feels somewhat extraneous, the novel regains its footing in the closing chapters as the sisters contend with their rupture, Throughout, Wei treats their complex bond with humor and pathos. The result is a remarkably nuanced exploration of sisterhood and its limits. Agent: Jacqueline Ko, Wylie Agency. (May)