Off the Books
A Novel
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A captivating debut following a cross-country road trip that will make you believe in the goodness of people, Off the Books sheds light on the power in humanity during the most troubled of times.
Recent Dartmouth dropout Mei, in search of a new direction in life, drives a limo to make ends meet. Her grandfather convinces her to allow her customers to pay under the table, and before she knows it, she is working as a routine chauffeur for sex workers. Mei does her best to mind her own business, but her knack for discretion soon leads her on a life changing trip from San Francisco to Syracuse with a new client.
Handsome and reserved, Henry piques Mei’s interest. Toting an enormous black suitcase with him everywhere he goes, he’s more concerned with taking frequent breaks than making good time on the road. When Mei discovers Henry's secret, she does away with her usual close-lipped demeanor and decides she has no choice but to confront him. What Henry reveals rocks her to her core and shifts this once casual, transactional road trip to one of moral stakes and dangerous consequences.
An original take on the great American road trip, Off the Books is a beautifully crafted coming of age story that showcases the resilience of the human spirit and the power of doing the right thing. The spirit of Frazier’s characters will stay with readers long after they have arrived at their destination.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Humour and heartache share the driver’s seat in this poignant road trip odyssey from debut novelist Soma Mei Sheng Frazier. After the death of her father, Ivy League dropout Mĕi Brown returns home to Oakland, California, where she makes ends meet as a private chauffeur for sex workers. When the enigmatic Henry Lee hires Mĕi to drive him to Syracuse, she’s at first suspicious of her cross-country companion. But as their trek progresses, Mĕi finds unexpected camaraderie in Henry—at least until he reveals a shocking truth about his luggage that dramatically reframes their voyage. With sharp wit and deep empathy, Frazier’s evocative tale is an example of a truly great road trip novel. Every mile travelled seems to reveal more about not just Henry and Mĕi but the American cultural landscape. The unexpected balance of lighthearted banter and emotional realness makes this a debut you won’t want to miss.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Frazier debuts with the delightfully offbeat yet weighty story of a Chinese American college dropout turned limo driver and a Uyghur Muslim girl fleeing Chinese persecution. After Mĕi Brown's father dies, she returns from Dartmouth to Oakland, where she struggles with her mother's refusal to grieve. Her limo-driving job attracts the attention of her eccentric lǎoyé (Mandarin for "grandfather"), who lives in the garage and spends his days smoking weed and playing video games. Lǎoyé connects Mĕi with under-the-table clients, mainly sex workers, and eventually with the mysterious and handsome Henry Lee, who hires her to drive him from San Francisco to Syracuse. Along the way, Mĕi discovers Henry is smuggling an 11-year-old girl, Anna, in his suitcase to reunite her with her professor father. Later, Mĕi learns that Anna and her mother were planning to leave China together, until her father's incendiary articles about Uyghur persecution in Xinjiang led to her mother's detention by Chinese authorities. The character work is top-notch, as Frazier shows how Mĕi offers Anna the kind of support she wished her own mother had provided, and the narrative structure (each chapter recounts a different leg of the journey) creates plenty of forward momentum. It's a fresh take on the classic American road novel.
