This Place is Still Beautiful
By (Author) XiXi Tian
Penguin Random House Children's UK
Penguin Books Ltd
5th July 2022
9th June 2022
United Kingdom
Young Adult
Fiction
Childrens / Teenage personal and social topics: Racism and anti-racism
813.6
Paperback
368
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 22mm
255g
Two sisters. A shocking racist incident. The summer that will change both of their lives forever. Annalie and Margaret are sisters who agree on only one thing- that they have nothing in common. Annalie is seventeen- sweet, content, and looking forward to a summer of flirting with the most popular boy in school. Margaret is nineteen- ambitious, a warrior for social justice, and desperate to forget her ex-boyfriend in New York City. When their family is the victim of a racial attack, Annalie tries to pretend it never happened - but Margaret wants to fight back. Suddenly their relationship - and all the ones around them - are hanging by a thread. And then a crushing secret threatens to tear them apart forever . . .
This assured YA debut interweaves uncompromising truths about prejudice, identity and belonging with sweet, heady romance and a nuanced depiction of sisterhood. * Guardian, best new children's books *
An impressive first novel * Booklist *
This book made me feel seen in a way that very few books ever have. * Misa Sugiura, author of This Time Will Be Different *
[A]n exciting new voice in YA . . . this moving debut is not to be missed. * Nina LaCour, author of We Are Okay *
Yuxi 'XiXi' Tian is an attorney at Google by day and a writer by night. She emigrated from China when she was a year old, and grew up in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, on which Margaret and Annalie's town is based. Before working at Google, Yuxi attended Harvard Law School, and for a brief period dabbled with the idea of becoming a literary agent. She now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and cat.