Money can't buy happiness... But it can buy a decent fake.
Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home--she's built the perfect life. But beneath this facade, Ava's world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn't been used in years, and her toddler's tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.
Enter Winnie Fang, Ava's enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business--someone who'd never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left holding the counterfeit bag.
Counterfeit is stylish, soapy, and sharp. Chen pulls back the curtain on the knock-off designer handbag business and on the Chinese factories where they are mass produced.
This fashion-forward novel is a union of contemporary fiction and mystery. Chen employs a hybrid point of view, shifting from second person—Ava is talking to the detective—to Winnie's third-person account in the second part. She stays within the tight context of the women's relationship, leaving her reader to guess which story is real and which is the counterfeit?
With strong female characters, Counterfeit is full of glitz, hustle, friendship, and secrecy.
KIRSTIN CHEN is an award-winning, best-selling author of three novels. Counterfeit has been recommended by Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Time, Oprah Daily, Haper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Parade, and more. Television rights have been optioned by Sony Pictures. Her previous two novels are Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners.
Chen was born and raised in Singapore and now lives in San Francisco.
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