In London, a newly-arrived Chinese postgraduate student meets a landscape architect and they begin to build a life together, set against the backdrop of the frenetic Brexit campaign and its fallout.

Not to be dramatic about it (because this is absolutely not a dramatic book), but parts of this one spoke to something in my soul. There isn’t really a plot per se - it’s more of a series of snapshots of the progression of a relationship, each revolving around fragments of conversation - but this quiet presentation of our narrator’s relationship across cultural and linguistic divides really worked for me. Unsurprisingly, I love when characters have multiple nationalities and/or grew up in places other than where they are “from.” The writing itself was both poetic and direct, which sounds contradictory, but either way, it was enjoyable. Unexpected humour was introduced through moments of confusion that result from cultural and linguistic differences, as well as expressions and habits that are lost in translation, and I loved it. It’s also a fascinating look at British cultural idiosyncrasies, the quirks of the UK and Brexit from an outside, dispassionate (and often unflattering) perspective. The last part really resonated with me, especially the sense of feeling untethered that pervades our narrator’s experience of that period in her life (I‘ll leave it there to avoid spoilers). I understand that Guo was inspired by Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse, but as I haven’t read it, I can’t comment on how they relate to each other. A quietly excellent exploration of love and the progression of a relationship across cultural and linguistic divides, and making a life within a culture that is not your own.