Meet NYT Best-Selling Author, Yangsze Choo

A NYT BEST-SELLER, A REESE WITHERSPOON PICK, A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES,
AND SHE KNOWS HER KUEH FROM HER KUAY TEOW.

Yangsze Choo has accumulated in three books so many accolades that I am going to list them at the end, to make sure they don’t slow down my pacing. Suffice it to say, Yangsze models the success that almost all of us would like to achieve. Acclaimed for the plotting of her mysteries. Addictive for the uninventable (yes, my word) details of her rich and exotic settings. Precise yet often lyrical in her language. An unmitigated commercial success.

Like Yangsze, I have roots in Malaysia. So encountering kueh (“cake” but not really cake) and kuay teow (noodles, but not merely noodles) in Yangsze’s books brought a frisson of…Recognition? Resonance? A strong desire to speak to her, anyway. An itch to ask her about her path, and her craft, and where these books—really so unexpected—mysterious, historical, supernatural, folkloric, come from.

So, on June 26th, 2024, I interviewed her. Here is our conversation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Either click on the image below, or follow this link to YouTube.

Yangsze’s recent accolades:

THE GHOST BRIDE
Carnegie Medal nominee
Oprah.com’s Book of the Week
Indie Next List pick
Barnes & Noble Fall ‘13 Discover Great New Writers selection
Goodreads Choice Award Finalist for Best Fantasy
Glamour Magazine 2013 Beach Read
Good Housekeeping Magazine Book Pick
The Bookseller Editor’s Pick
Library Journal Barbara’s Pick
A Netflix Original Series

THE NIGHT TIGER
Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine’s Book Club NYTimes bestseller
Big Jubilee Read book pick for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee
Amazon’s 100 Best Books of the Year
A Most Anticipated Book (Glamour, Real Simple, Parade, Bustle, BookPage, Goodreads, PopSugar, BookRiot, Refinery29, Tor.com, HelloGiggles—note this could be 11 separate entries)
USA Today: Best Books of the Year So Far
Refinery29: A Best Book of the Year (So Far)
Parade: A Best Book of the Year
National Geographic: 13 New Books for Spring Break Trips

THE FOX WIFE
A semifinalist for Jimmy Fallon’s Book Club on The Tonight Show
A Best Book of February by Time
A Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by LitHub and BookPage
A Fresh Fiction Pick by Oprah Daily
A February 2024 IndieNext Pick
A February 2024 LibraryReads pick