Contemporary fiction
White Ivy
Debut
We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Susie Yang, on your first book!
Quick take
A woman stops at nothing to get the life—and love—she wants in this unsettling coming-of-age about ambition and deceit.
Good to know
Social issues
Slow build
Family drama
Unlikeable narrator
Synopsis
Ivy Lin is a thief and a liar—but you’d never know it by looking at her. Raised outside of Boston, she is taught how to pilfer items from yard sales and second-hand shops by her immigrant grandmother. Thieving allows Ivy to accumulate the trappings of a suburban teen—and, most importantly, to attract the attention of Gideon Speyer, the golden boy of a wealthy political family. But when Ivy’s mother discovers her trespasses, punishment is swift and Ivy is sent to China, where her dream instantly evaporates.
Years later, Ivy has grown into a poised yet restless young woman, haunted by her conflicting feelings about her upbringing and her family. Back in Boston, when she bumps into Sylvia Speyer, Gideon’s sister, a reconnection with Gideon seems not only inevitable—it feels like fate.
Slowly, Ivy sinks her claws into Gideon and the entire Speyer clan by attending fancy dinners and weekend getaways to the Cape. But just as Ivy is about to have everything she’s ever wanted, a ghost from her past resurfaces, threatening the nearly perfect life she’s worked so hard to build.
Free sample
Get an early look from the first pages of White Ivy.
White Ivy
Part One
I
Ivy Lin was a thief but you would never know it to look at her. Maybe that was the problem. No one ever suspected—and that made her reckless. Her features were so average and nondescript that the brain only needed a split second to develop a complete understanding of her: skinny Asian girl, quiet, overly docile around adults in uniforms. She had a way of walking, shoulders forward, chin tucked under, arms barely swinging, that rendered her invisible in the way of pigeons and janitors.
Ivy would have traded her face a thousand times over for a blue-eyed, blond-haired version like the Satterfield twins, or even a red-headed, freckly version like Liza Johnson, instead of her own Chinese one with its too-thin lips, embarrassingly high forehead, two fleshy cheeks like ripe apples before the autumn pickings. Because of those cheeks, at fourteen years old, she was often mistaken for an elementary school student—an unfortunate hindrance in everything except thieving, in which her childlike looks were a useful camouflage.
Ivy’s only source of vanity was her eyes. They were pleasingly round, symmetrically situated, cocoa brown in color, with crescent corners dipped in like the ends of a stuffed dumpling. Her grandmother had trimmed her lashes when she was a baby to “stimulate growth,” and it seemed to have worked, for now she was blessed with a flurry of thick, black lashes that other girls could only achieve with copious layers of mascara, and not even then. By any standard, she had nice eyes—but especially for a Chinese girl—and they saved her from an otherwise plain face.
Why I love it
Jenna Bush Hager
Co-host, TODAY with Hoda & Jenna
Ivy isn’t your typical heroine. She’s got a bit of an honesty problem and she loves to steal. As I turned the pages of this excellent debut, I found myself rooting for Ivy the whole way. But that didn’t mean I always liked or agreed with her choices.
We meet Ivy when she’s a teenager, determined to fit into the white Protestant suburban community in which she’s growing up. A child of the Chinese diaspora, Ivy strives to obtain the glamorous life she associates with the American Dream—no matter what it takes. Her obsession with assimilation culminates in a plot to become friends with her crush Gideon, who epitomizes everything sparkly about suburban wealth. On the outside, he and his family appear to have it all. But when Ivy reunites with him as an adult, cracks begin to appear in this perfect façade—and in hers.
White Ivy is a juicy and fun read with a shocking twist. It’s a coming-of-age novel that will lead to conversations about otherness and ambition. Best of all it will leave you with questions about how and where we look for happiness, which feels like an ever-more pressing preoccupation in these trying times.
Member ratings (2,469)
Christine S.
Chicago, IL
Such a well written coming-of-age novel. Ivy’s a very nuanced character with relatable flaws, I sympathized with her even in the darkest moments. Somewhat predictable ending but really enjoyed overall
Emily D.
Lakota, IA
Dark fun that breaks the heart a little, Ivy is a captivating MC just trying to make her way in a world ready to take advantage of her at every turn. Always more here than there seems on the surface.
Lenna M.
Kansas city, MO
Young Asian American girl trying to fit in, trying to find her place in life.. and willing to do whatever it takes to find her place. Approval from family & friends— has an amazing twist at the end
Emanuela C.
New York, NY
Amazing story, very original and well written. I don't want to use the term "slow burn" because I was immediately captivated but the second part of the book is more of a page-turner. Really enjoyed!
Alexandra C.
Dartmouth, MA
This book was a wild ride. Ivy was incredibly complex yet somehow I was still rooting for her. Roux seemed to be her twin flame and as for Gideon I can not believe I didn’t see that twist coming.