An ex-piano prodigy desperate to regain her former glory discovers inspiration in acts of murder in this addictive and twisted suspense novel by Canwen Xu, author of Boring Asian Female.

Mia's life is divided into two parts: before the accident and after the accident.

Before the accident, Mia was a piano prodigy. Starting at age five, she received first place trophies in every competition, performed at Carnegie Hall, and graduated from Juilliard. Over the years, she developed a steady income stream through her popular social media channel, where she performed pieces and shared snippets of her polished life. Mia's entire purpose revolved around the piano, and she was on her way to a promising career. Her mother couldn't be more proud.

After the accident, everything changed. Mia's left hand never fully recovered, forcing her to quit performing. Now she gives lessons to spoiled kids on the Upper East Side in their lavish homes and watches her best friend Jessica's piano videos that suspiciously resemble her old ones. When Mia finds even more damning evidence that Jessica is copying her, she can't fight the rage, and one night as her friend sits perched on a windowsill, Mia simply... pushes. Now Jessica can no longer copy her.

But in the aftermath, something surprising happens: for the first time, Mia composes. Through the murder of her best friend, she feels a catharsis, a transcendence that inspires her to create a beautiful piece – with the notes and images of Jessica's body crashing against each other in her head.

It's addicting, this feeling. And she doesn't want to give it up.



Canwen Xu is a writer living in New York City. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and more. Her TEDx talk, titled I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype has been watched over 3 million times. She graduated from Columbia University in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and computer science.