One factor that inspired Kwan to write his novel was a void in the Western book market.
“The only works of fiction about Asians were about historical Asia, like Shanghai set in the 1930s or 1940s, The Joy Luck Club, or Asian American identity by people like Maxine Hong Kingston. No one was really writing about contemporary Asia and what was happening in Asia in 2009,” said Kwan in an interview with NextShark.
