Yellowface

Just days after signing a contract to turn one of her books into a television series, and the very same day she finishes the rough draft of her latest novel, the successful, beautiful, and popular author Athena Liu chokes to death on a pancake. June Hayward, a fellow writer and friend of Athena’s from their college, is the only witness. Before the paramedics arrive, June stuffs Athena’s typewritten manuscript into her purse.

In the wake of Athena’s death, June receives more attention from the online publishing and reading communities than she ever has in her life—her own debut novel, Over the Sycamore, was far less successful than anything Athena wrote. While she goes through the motions of grieving online and attends Athena’s funeral at the invitation of Athena’s mother, Mrs. Liu, June is also hard at work finishing and polishing Athena’s rough draft. Then she sends it to her agent, Brett, as her own work, and he quickly sells it to Eden Press.

June’s experience with The Last Front is everything her experience with Over the Sycamore was not. Her advance is larger. Her new editor, Daniella Woodhouse, is attentive. June feels that she deserves this success—the kind of success Athena always unfairly enjoyed—and is willing to do whatever she needs to do to maintain it, including styling herself in such a way as to suggest that she’s Chinese American rather than White. The only prepublication hiccup happens when Daniella’s assistant, a Korean American woman named Candice Lee, tries to insist that The Last Front undergo a round of revisions aimed at getting rid of racially insensitive content. But June resists this control over her artistic integrity and gets Candice fired for unprofessional behavior.

The Last Front enjoys a successful debut—there’s even interest in a film adaptation—but the night of her first public event, June thinks she sees Athena’s ghost sitting in the audience. And, although she receives mostly positive reviews, she has her detractors as well, people like Kimberly Deng, Xiao Chen, and Adele Sparks-Sato, who mostly critique cultural insensitivities and an overly positive portrayal of White people in the book. But then someone (eventually, June learns it’s Athena’s ex, Geoff) starts making public if anonymous allegations that June plagiarized Athena’s work. June finds herself increasingly called to account or shut out of literary events and subject to ever more hateful vitriol online.

The stress gives June a serious case of writer’s block. Eventually she writes her third book, Mother Witch, which initially receives positive reviews. But there’s a hitch: June stole the opening scene from Athena’s notes, too. This time, Adele Sparks-Sato has the evidence to prove it, which she does in a widely circulated online essay. June’s team at Eden stands by her, but it’s clear that they’re running out of patience. Eventually, June decides that her next book will be a fictionalized account of her relationship with Athena. She relishes this project in part because it allows her to prove that Athena didn’t deserve the success she enjoyed, because Athena stole things too. Namely, the short story that catapulted Athena to fame was a loose retelling of June’s rape or near-rape in college, which she described to Athena, who was then a classmate and a real friend.

But delving into her memories (which aren’t all bad) starts to make June feel like she’s being haunted by Athena’s ghost, a feeling which increases exponentially when Athena’s Instagram account comes back to life and whoever is using it (not Geoff this time, June quickly determines) begins playing psychological games with June. Eventually, the ghostly user baits June into a meeting. It turns out to be Candice, out for revenge—and a chance for redemption—after June cost her not only her job but her entire future in the publishing industry. Having tricked June into a recorded confession, Candice has the evidence she needs to destroy June’s career and sell her own tell-all memoir in the process.

However, June isn’t about to give up. Shortly before Candice’s book goes to press, she begins drafting another one of her own, telling the story from her side. She knows it won’t fix her broken reputation. But she also knows that people’s curiosity will lead them to buy it anyway. Attention will keep her relevant, and if she does a good enough job, she knows she can muddy the waters enough to cast doubt on Candice’s reputation in the process.