Available Formats
The Satisfaction Cafe: 'Evokes the narrative power of classic Anne Tyler' Janice Y.K. Lee
By (Author) Kathy Wang
Little, Brown Book Group
Abacus
24th June 2025
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Paperback
352
Width 153mm, Height 234mm, Spine 22mm
'Vivid and precise, deliciously cool-eyed, immensely readable' Jonathan Franzen
'Evokes the narrative power of classic Anne Tyler' Janice Y.K. Lee, author of The Piano TeacherJoan Liang's life is a series of surprising developments: she never thought she would leave Taiwan (and for all places, California), nor did she expect her first marriage to implode - especially as quickly and spectacularly as it did. She definitely did not expect to fall in love with an older, wealthy American and become his fourth wife and mother to his youngest children. Through all this she asks herself the question familiar to so many of us: what are we living for And are we ever truly satisfied Vivid, comic and intensely moving, The Satisfaction Cafe is a novel about all of the joy, sorrow, betrayal and beauty that come with marriage and family - and above all, about life's endless capacity to surprise us.Kathy Wang is a born storyteller, vivid and precise, deliciously cool-eyed, immensely readable -- Jonathan Franzen
Reading Kathy Wang is like talking to your best friend. The Satisfaction Cafe evokes the narrative power of classic Anne Tyler, infused with Wang's signature humor, warmth and wisdom. I want to share this novel with everyone -- Janice Y. K. Lee, author of The Piano Teacher
Subtle, surprising, and elegantly constructed, The Satisfaction Cafe is an insightful and funny exploration of how seldom our choices feel like choices; how rare and elusive the idea of home can feel * Lynn Steger Strong, author of Flight *
A beautiful, intimate novel that takes the reader, again and again, to unexpected places. Wang's characters are so real and flawed and human you expect them to spring from the page. What a breath of fresh air - a novel with nothing to prove and so much to give. I didn't want it to end -- Lydia Kiesling, author of Mobility
Kathy Wang is the author of Family Trust and Impostor Syndrome. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Business School, and lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two children.