Foreigners by E.L. Shen

 

Publisher: Quill Tree Books

On Sale Date: September 22 2026

Pages: 448

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

It is 1966 and Zheng Yi is a graduated high school senior who just arrived in New York City from Taiwan. Her parents have high expectations of her, and the goal is for Zheng Yo to go to college in the US. She will stay at the house of her aunt, and she will also be a nanny of her two little nephews there in return for her stay. She has to learn English, in which she truly struggles, and also with the social norms of her new life that are so different then back in Taiwan and her parents expect her to date Calvin Chin, a wealthy student with a good name who soon enough shows his true colors and intentions to Zheng Yi..

Dawn Chin is a college student who lives on campus in New England in the present time. For a school project she has to research her own family history. During her research, she finds an old picture of her grandmother, a picture that is taken back in the 1960's in New York City, while her grandmother always told her she spent that time in New Hampshire. Dawn discovers that her grandmother hides a lot of secrets, but it afraid to ask her, her project brings her closer to her grandmother tough, and so close that her grandmother trusts her enough to tell her a dark secret she has hidden for long..

Foreigners E.L. Shen is a novel that is just as great as her previous novel The Queens of New York. The storyline that alternates between Zheng Yi in the past and Dawn in the present is just beautiful and unlike any other novel in originality.

Zheng Yi's story (who is called Audrey further on in the story) was truly moving and truly shows the difficulties and challenges you stumble upon as a newcomer in New York City. She truly has to adjust to her new life and has to take in mind constantly the pressure of the high expectations her parents back home have of her, which includes dating Calvin Chin, a guy who seems wealthy and nice from the outside but soon crosses Audrey's boundaries. She also is seeing another guy, against Calvin's warning that he is dangerous and she shouldn't see him. But she soon figures out Calvin is the dangerous one..

The storyline of Dawn, Audrey's grandchild at college in New England, was less moving, it was more a coming of age story and Dawn finding out she was queer. The story I found most interesting about this part was her discovering her grandmother's long hidden secret from her past in New York, and the revealing of the this secret in the ending with a flashback. This truly was a great plot twist that I didn't expect, and how the story was wrapped up was also really good.

Overall, I truly like and enjoyed this brand new novel by E.L. Shen, and I recommend reading it!