Mimi Lok's Last of Her Name is an eye-opening story collection about the intimate, interconnected lives of diasporic women and the histories they are born into. Set in a wide range of time periods and locales, including '80s UK suburbia, WWII Hong Kong and contemporary urban California, the book features an eclectic cast of outsiders: among them, an elderly housebreaker, wounded lovers and kung-fu fighting teenage girls. Last of Her Name offers a meditation on female desire and resilience, family and the nature of memory.
Mimi Lok is a Chinese writer and editor. Born and raised in the UK, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Her writing has been published or is forthcoming in McSweeney's, Lucky Peach, Nimrod and Hyphen, among other publications. She is the cofounder, Executive Director and Editor of Voice of Witness, an award-winning nonprofit that illuminates human rights issues through an oral-history book series (published by Haymarket and Verso) and a national education program.
A mesmerizing and deeply felt debut that affirms all that is great about short fiction. 'The Woman In the Closet' has to be considered a new classic. Lok's collection brings startling intimacy to her characters, all of them struggling with dislocation and belonging within the Chinese diaspora. I can't think of a collection that better speaks to this moment of global movement and collective rupture from homes and history, and the struggle to find meaning despite it all. Dave Eggers