The Quack

In Carrie Changs winning fifth novel, The Quack, set in the beloved postcard city of Chinatown, San Francisco, the red planetary mists converge with hexagonal bagua wonder as old Chinese families convene with ghostly vexation, debating everything under the sun with sluggish pride and keen neo-religiosity. As the young protagonist, Isabelle Wu forsakes her dual-end journalism career to become a lollygagger in qui dunnit plaid. She finds that the Bohemian life has its innate possibilities and rewards, and she soon meets a quack who pleads with her in the mighty language of the occult, offering to cure her of the Chinatown blues with an off-color foot rub. This book is a must-read for anyone who has heard a frenzied ghost in the wall or experienced a Peking duck fascination. A Chinese fortune-cookie literary special that will make your eyes pop out and your hair turn righteous colors in the dark.