SET ON FIVE CONTINENTS and spanning nearly a century, We Two Alone traces the long arc and evolution of the Chinese immigrant experience. A young laundry boy risks his life to play organized hockey in Canada in the 1920s. A Canadian couple gets caught in the outbreak of violence in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Consul-General of China attempts to save lives following Kristallnacht in Vienna. A family aspires to buy a home in South Africa during the rise of apartheid. An actor in New York struggles to keep his career alive while yearning to reconcile with his estranged wife. From the vulnerable and disenfranchised to the educated and elite, the characters in this extraordinary collection embody the diversity of the diaspora at key moments in history and in contemporary times. Jack Wang has crafted deeply affecting stories that not only subvert expectations but contend with mortality and delicately draw out the intimacies and failings of love.
“One of the best books I’ve read this year and one of my all-time favourite short story collections.”
— SHARON BALA, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE BOAT PEOPLE
“We Two Alone is an insightful collection of stories that effectively draws the reader into the immigrant experience, showcasing the diversity within the Chinese diaspora across continents, time periods and social strata… A timely and thought-provoking read.”
— ANUJA VARGHESE, GOVERNOR GENERAL’S AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF CHRYSALIS
“These moving stories are both global and intimate as they span the continents where the Chinese diaspora has settled. With ingenuity and impeccable craft, Jack Wang gives us an utterly remarkable collection that zeroes in on the emotional texture of utterly unique lives.”
— VIET THANH NGUYEN, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE SYMPATHIZER
“Jack Wang’s We Two Alone is not only a penetrating examination of the Chinese diaspora, it also brilliantly renders its subject in the most deeply resonant universal way, as the yearning for personal identity that drives us all in our shared humanity. This is a remarkable collection of stories, a remarkable work of art.”
— ROBERT OLEN BUTLER, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN
“This impressive and vibrant collection of stories takes the reader by the hand, leading us across the world and back in time. But they’re all unified by the gentle sensitivity of Jack Wang’s prose and his ability to inhabit characters who long for freedom, connection, and fulfillment. Deeply humane and beautifully wrought, these stories stay in the heart and the mind.”
— ALIX OHLIN, SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE FINALIST FOR DUAL CITIZENS AND INSIDE
“Jack Wang’s first collection of short fiction, We Two Alone, is a superior example of the form, beautifully crafted, emotionally resonant, and dramatically satisfying… We Two Alone is a thoroughly engaging volume of short fiction by an exceptionally talented author. These are near flawless tales of personal struggle and modern angst: deeply empathetic, humane stories by a writer whose command of form and technique is unfailing.”
— IAN COLFORD, WINNER OF THE MARGARET AND JOHN SAVAGE FIRST BOOK AWARD FOR EVIDENCE
“Jack Wang’s dazzling first collection of stories, We Two Alone, moves through decades and across continents with rare ease, telling not the story but some of the many stories of the Chinese diaspora in the last century. These stories are so elegantly shaped, so satisfying as individual stories, that their collective power sneaks up on you. There is a quiet and building intensity to the storytelling here, a commitment to chronicling—with deep compassion and a refusal of easy answers—the dignity of human experience against the broader indignities of history. I was moved, heartbroken, and thrilled.”
— EMILY FRIDLUND, BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST FOR HISTORY OF WOLVES
“A brilliant and ambitious vision of a hundred years of solitude: the Chinese diaspora navigated with courage, cleverness, and grace. Wang does this by following not a single family over generations but a dynamic cast of unforgettable characters as they scatter across the past century and across the globe, to Vancouver, Vienna, London, New York. For some, it’s a lonely journey; as Frank O’Connor said, in the best short stories we find ‘an intense awareness of human loneliness.’ But these characters cross continents and oceans to free themselves from history and from their own ‘tiny flames,’ seeking peace, work, adventure, fame, and, above all, love. This is a delicately wrought and deeply moving book from an exceptional new voice.”
— ELEANOR HENDERSON, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE TWELVE-MILE STRAIGHT AND TEN THOUSAND SAINTS
“In We Two Alone, Jack Wang has written an instantly engaging and achingly poignant collection of stories about people struggling to preserve their way of life and seeking stability, connection, and meaning. Focusing on Chinese immigrant experiences, Wang’s stories range freely and easily across many decades and a dizzying assortment of geographies. All of Wang’s characters are vividly rendered, their struggles and agonies richly conceived and indelibly portrayed. The writing throughout is atmospheric, highly visual, and peppered with startling and persuasive detail. Long after finishing it, We Two Alone lingers in the mind as a compassionate work by a profoundly talented writer who cares deeply about what it means to be human in turbulent times.”
— LISA BIRD-WILSON, IAN COLFORD, AND ZALIKA REID-BENTA
JUDGES’ CITATION FOR THE 2020 DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD SHORTLIST
