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Longlisted, 2025 Toronto Book Awards
Finalist, Foreword INDIES 2025 Book of the Year
A CBC Best Book of 2025
A sweeping generational story of heartbreak, resilience, and yearning, revealing an insider’s view of the fractured lives of Chinese immigrants and those they leave behind.
Lemei, once a student Red Guard leader in 1960s Shanghai and a journalist at a state newspaper, was involved in a brutal act of violence during the Tiananmen Square protests and lost all hope for her country. Her daughter, Lin, is a student at an American university on a mission to become a true Westerner. She tirelessly erases her birth identity, abandons her Chinese suitor, and pursues a white lover, all the while haunted by the scars of her upbringing. Following China’s meteoric rise, Lemei is slowly dragged into a nationalistic perspective that stuns Lin. Their final confrontation results in tragic consequences, but ultimately, offers hope for a better future. By turns wry and lyrical, The Immortal Woman reminds us to hold tight to our humanity at any cost.
“Chang’s writing is powered by raw emotion … [The Immortal Woman is] a cathartic account of a family buffeted by the winds of modern Chinese history.” — Publishers Weekly
“This tender and heartbreaking excavation is a testament to the dangers of history, and the power of words to both wound and heal.” —Tessa Hulls, author/artist of Feeding Ghosts
"An inviting, intimate look at ordinary people living through times of momentous change." – Kirkus
“This insightful and satisfying novel offers nuanced looks into the lives of contemporary Chinese families.” — Booklist
“The Immortal Woman … skilfully shows how the immigrant’s dream of leaving their former life behind proves unattainable.” — Winnipeg Free Press
“Daring and astute, The Immortal Woman goes beyond asking what people will do to survive. How will they live, with themselves and with each other, once the surviving is done?” —Thea Lim, author of An Ocean of Minutes
“Defying limits with triumph and aplomb … Chang's lyrical, spinning and dizzying prose creates a vivid sense of the ever-shifting ground beneath her characters' feet.” — 49th Shelf
"An urgent debut that deserves to be read and reread.” – The Ampersand Review
“Dreamy, quietly stunning prose. [Su Chang] has an innate ability to weave together sharp political commentary with deeply human emotions … [The Immortal Woman is a] masterpiece.” — The /tƐmz/ Review
“The Immortal Woman is a book that makes our hearts bigger. Read it.” —Kim Echlin, author of The Disappeared and Speak, Silence
“A gorgeous, intelligent debut.” —Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, author of Wait Softly Brother
“A wonder to behold.” —Joseph Kertes, author of Last Impressions
“Perceptive, mesmerizing, and open-hearted.” —Jessica Westhead, author of Avalanche and Worry
“A fierce, unforgettable debut.” —Alissa York, author of Far Cry
“The Immortal Woman is a promising debut with some unforgettable passages. “ — Washington Independent Review of Books
“Chang’s writing is extremely lyrical … Compelling.” — The Miramichi Reader
“Ambitious and richly rendered.” —Ottawa Review of Books
"A great read, with delicate and engaging prose, well-researched, and mesmerizing in its depictions of the tragic and difficult choices the characters make throughout." —The Seaboard Review
“Su Chang paints a complex picture of intergenerational trauma and the meaning of home.” — Quebec Library Association
"Anyone who wants to understand the depth of the ruptures that characterise today's China — and its diaspora — should read this book." — Literatur. Review