To the East of the East

by Ping Lu, Jeremy Tiang (Translator)

Min-Hui's travels from Taiwan to Beijing in search of her vanished husband in this multi-layered meditation on marriage and freedom from Taiwan's most sophisticated contemporary voice.
While chasing business opportunities in China, Min-Hui’s husband disappears without a trace, forcing her to uproot her quiet life as a writer in Taiwan and travel to Beijing, where the chaos of the city leaves her reeling. Does the Chinese government truly have her best interests at heart, and how hard are the authorities looking for her missing husband? Marooned in the ancient capital, Min-Hui encounters the enigmatic Shangjun, a self-proclaimed human rights activist who seeks refuge in her hotel room. As their relationship blooms, Min-Hui allows him to read her novel in progress: a young Qing emperor confined within the Forbidden City becomes fascinated by pirate merchant Zheng Zhilong’s tales of the Taiwanese seas. All the while, Min-Hui contemplates the discord in the marriage she is desperate to save. Exploring the universal longing for freedom with her signature multi-layered narrative, Ping Lu interweaves Min-Hui’s search for her husband and her Beijing love affair with the historical backstory of her novel and unsent letters from her vanished husband. To the East of the East offers a profound meditation on liberation, destiny and the contingencies of national histories by one of Taiwan’s most sophisticated contemporary voices.

220 pages, Paperback

Expected publication November 3, 2026

Reviews

[Jae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, this was a very comprehensive read for such a short book - and I’ll start off by saying that the page count is perfect for the story this book aims to tell. It is not too short nor too long.

To the East of the East is about a husband disappearing in mainland China and the wife;
Min-Hui traveling from Taiwan to Beijing to find her missing husband.

I went in with no expectations, and no prior knowledge. My initial reaction was ooh- is this a thriller, I mean missing husband? Possibly kidnapped, tortured or killed even (I’m not the ideal reader for thrillers), but I have read John Grisham so I may possibly like it.

I was proven wrong, it’s true to its genre contemporary and I am entirely impressed by both the author and the translator, the concepts and the ideas explored and the way it has been translated is nothing short of absolute praise. I love a good atmospheric writing style and reading the sombre tonality of this book, especially Min-Hui’s early chapters were a pleasure - the mundane acts of buying grocery and cooking and how it fades into routine with loss and grief.

The author is a bit experimental with the format - there’s 3 povs in the (very short) book - one being the letters of Min-Hui’s husband written in first person pov, then we’ve got two Min-Hui povs, one of story she is writing and another with a man she is counters in Beijing. It’s a bold move for such a small story - and I don’t think it landed well with me, especially the fictional story inside this novel.

Taking that out, this book read like Letters to Milena meets Us and Them (2018), both of which is high praise from me.

Its the dread and blunt realization of marriages that have no spark, how love is hollow without passion and this books explores both the wife and the husband finding passion, and when that is found - the jealousy and the grief that comes after. The fictional story about the emperor sort of works in parallel with the characters and their thematic experiences as well as the parallels to Taiwan and China, which was an intriguing commentary to read from.

My only qualms is that I would have liked to delve deeper into Min-Hui’s mind and state of mind pre and post her husbands disappearance instead of the novel she was writing.

The letters - my absolute favorite part of the story, it was reminiscing and nostalgia and breaking down actions and reactions and the past, I absorbed the melancholy straight to my bones and I wish we got more!!!!!!

It’s an overall 6/10

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ping Lu’s To the East of the East promises a poignant look at cross-strait identity, marriage, and grief through a Taiwanese woman searching for her missing husband in Beijing. Unfortunately, the execution completely misses the mark. The plot is fractured into three competing threads: the protagonist's journey, her husband's letters, and a tedious, embedded historical novel written by the protagonist herself. The main character is frustratingly flat and passive, her novel is incredibly slow, and the reveal at the end is rather anti-climatic. If I’m honest, the only reason I didn't DNF this after the first 20 pages is because it’s an ARC, but a reader simply shouldn't have to wait until the final thirty pages to finally feel somewhat invested in a story.

The book is further hindered by immature writing, glaring continuity errors, and what feels like a very clunky translation. The prose constantly relies on non-sequitur logic and heavy-handed exposition that treats the reader with a degree of condescension, which I resent. Instead of showing rather than telling, the author frequently attempts to break the fourth wall to deliver dry history lectures or clumsily anticipate reader objections. Characters randomly develop traits out of nowhere late in the book, like a previously unmentioned stutter or swearing habit, while major plot details conflict. What could have been a nuanced, multi-layered novel is ultimately weighed down by major structural flaws and technical inconsistencies.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was... interesting. When reading books in translation, I make a point to set aside expectations around storytelling conventions and go in with a blank slate. That said, this had an unusual structure, and not all of it worked for me. The main thread of the story was told as conventional narration, following as Min-Hui searches for her missing husband in China. This was fine; the logistics of the search are less important that Min-Hui's slow realisation that her marriage was over before it began. Part of the story was epistolary, which I thought was a really great way of filling in the husband's side of the story while maintaining the distance and disconnections that was ultimately the heart of the narrative. The final element was excerpts from a historical novel written in-book by Min-Hui, and this was a total miss for me. I couldn't find a link to the main story and those chapters became a slog to read, a waste of precious page space in this short book. Like I said, interesting. Didn't love it, but did have a lot to chew on.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Anna O’Connell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for this early read! Though I enjoyed the very different perspectives and storytelling in the writing, none of it really came together for me. I loved the husband’s letter, Min-Hui’s perspective, and the writing of the history of China and Taiwan. However they did not all come together into a cohesive single storyline for me. I found the history and sociopolitical information interesting but the story was lost.

[Petri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC for this book from NetGalley for free.

I’m in a bit of a reading slump right now and this book didn’t help me with it. I thought the writing was very vivid and good, but the story dragged a certain drive that didn’t make me want to pick it up.

My favorite part were the letters from the husbands POV and least favorite parts where the story the main character was writing.