Fiction alum Jemimah Wei '22 will publish her debut novel, The Original Daughter, with Doubleday on May 6, 2025.
Set in turn-of-the-millennium Singapore, The Original Daughter explores themes of family, ambition, and sisterhood. The story follows Genevieve Yang, an only child whose life is upended when she meets an unexpected sibling, Arin. As the sisters navigate the pressures of academic achievement in a rapidly modernizing society, their bond is tested by betrayal and estrangement.
Wei, who was born and raised in Singapore, is currently a 2022-2024 Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Her fiction has appeared in publications such as Guernica, Narrative, and Nimrod, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
The Original Daughter has been selected as an Indies Introduce pick by the American Booksellers Association. Sophie Chen of Belmont Books called it "a stunning debut" with "beautifully fleshed out" characters, while Dave Suiter of independent bookstore {pages} described it as "a soul-searching narrative about a woman who does everything right to achieve greatness but finds herself with little to show for it."
In addition to her novel, Wei is currently working on two short story collections.
