Ghost Cities by Lu, Siang

An award-winning novel from an international rising star--spanning ancient and modern China--in the dazzlingly inventive style of Susanna Clarke, David Mitchell, and Charles Yu.

Inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China, Ghost Cities follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. The incident goes viral under the hashtag #BadChinese and attracts the attention of the eccentric film director Baby Bao, who uses Lu to attract press for his latest film. Bao's movie, based on ancient legends, is to be filmed in one of China's "ghost cities".

How is his relocation to a ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient emperor creates a thousand doubles of himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known empire is destroyed--then recreated, page by page and book by book--all in the name of love and art?

Author: Siang Lu
Publisher: S&s/Summit Books
Published: 08/25/2026
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.90w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781668241813

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 06/01/2026 pg. 79
Publishers Weekly 06/15/2026
Booklist 07/01/2026

About the Author
Siang Lu is the Miles Franklin Literary Award-winning author of Ghost Cities and the ABIA-winning The Whitewash, the cocreator of The Beige Index, and the creator of #SillyBookstagram. Siang is based in Brisbane, Australia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.