Books from United States — The Book Roads

Ling Ling Huang

Natural Beauty follows a talented young pianist whose promising musical career is interrupted when an accident leaves her Chinese immigrant parents unable to care for themselves. Forced to abandon her ambitions, she takes a job at Holistik, an exclusive beauty and wellness store in New York City that caters to wealthy customers seeking increasingly extreme forms of physical perfection. As she becomes immersed in this glamorous world, she discovers an industry where experimental treatments promise to reshape bodies, erase imperfections, and transform people’s appearances. Her growing fascination with Helen, the niece of the store’s charismatic owner, further draws her into a world of privilege, desire, and manipulation. Yet beneath the seductive promises of self-improvement lies something deeply disturbing.

2024

In the Dream House

Carmen Maria Machado

In In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado explores an abusive same-sex relationship through a blend of memoir, cultural criticism, and experimental storytelling. She examines the complexities of love, trauma, and memory while challenging the silence surrounding abuse in LGBTQ+ relationships.

2020