Francie Lin


Francie Lin is a Taiwanese-American novelist, whose debut novel The Foreigner won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author.

Background

Lin was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah and graduated from Harvard University. Upon graduation from Harvard, Lin worked as a teacher and an arts journalist, reviewed books for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times, and eventually served as the associate editor of The Threepenny Review from 1998 to 2004, where she wrote short pieces, short stories, essays and reviews for. She received a Fulbright Fellowship to Taiwan for the years of 2001–2002, where she gathered material for her first novel, The Foreigner. She currently lives with her husband, historian and writer Stephen Platt, and family in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

Work

Lin wrote and published her first book, a crime novel entitled The Foreigner - published by Picador - which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author, a prestigious award presented annually by the Mystery Writers of America that honors the most distinguished work in the mystery genre. The Foreigner revolves around a 40-year old Taiwanese American financial analyst named Emerson Chang, who travels from San Francisco to Taipei in order to scatter his mother's ashes and re-establish contact with his shady younger brother, Little P, who has inherited the family hotel and is entangled in the Taiwanese criminal underworld. Chang eventually meets two cousins, Poison and Big One, as well as Little P's scheming friend Atticus, who constantly pushes Little P to sell the family hotel to him. Soon Emerson gets himself caught up in the vice of shadowy dealings that Little P runs out of his uncle's karaoke bar, who is concealing a secret about a crime that not only alienated him from the family but also haunts his conscience to this day. As Emerson continues to unravel the mystery of Little P's past and the Taipei hotel property he inherited, he loses his job and is propelled towards saving what is left of his family's legacy.
Publishers Weekly gave the novel a favorable review, stating that the book was a "stunning debut" and that character " Chang's distinctive voice propels a strong and original plot, with horrifying revelations. Taut, smart and often funny, this novel will satisfy readers of thrillers and general fiction alike." The novel also received strong reviews from the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Baltimore Sun and Kirkus Reviews.
The book was also a June 2008 BookSense pick, and also received positive reviews from the Boston Globe, Colin Harrison, Vroman's Bookstore and Breaking the Fourth Wall.