This Place Is Still Beautiful

Description:

Two sisters. A shocking racist incident. The summer that will change both of their lives forever.

Annalie and Margaret are sisters who agree on only one thing: that they have nothing in common.

Annalie is seventeen: sweet, content, and looking forward to a summer of flirting with the most popular boy in school.

Margaret is nineteen: ambitious, a warrior for social justice, and desperate to forget her ex-boyfriend in New York City.

When their family is the victim of a racial attack, Annalie tries to pretend it never happened - but Margaret wants to fight back. Suddenly their relationship - and all the ones around them - are hanging by a thread. And then a crushing secret threatens to tear them apart forever . . .

A beautiful and powerful story about family, identity and the secrets we keep, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas, Nicola Yoon, and Adam Silvera.

Review: This assured YA debut interweaves uncompromising truths about prejudice, identity and belonging with sweet, heady romance and a nuanced depiction of sisterhood. * Guardian, best new children's books *
An impressive first novel * Booklist *
This book made me feel seen in a way that very few books ever have. * Misa Sugiura, author of This Time Will Be Different *
[A]n exciting new voice in YA . . . this moving debut is not to be missed. * Nina LaCour, author of We Are Okay *

Author Biography: Yuxi 'XiXi' Tian is an attorney at Google by day and a writer by night. She emigrated from China when she was a year old, and grew up in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, on which Margaret and Annalie's town is based. Before working at Google, Yuxi attended Harvard Law School, and for a brief period dabbled with the idea of becoming a literary agent. She now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and cat.