Christina Li — The Manor of Dreams - with Martha Anne Toll

Vivian Yin is dead. The first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, the trailblazing ingénue rose to fame in the eighties, only to disappear from the spotlight at the height of her career to live out the rest of her life as a recluse.Now her remaining family members are gathered for the reading of her will, and her daughters expect to inherit their childhood home: Vivian's grand, sprawling, Southern California garden estate. But due to a last-minute change to the will, the house is passed on to another family instead--one that has suddenly returned after decades of estrangement.In hopes of staking their claim, both families move into the mansion. As Vivian's daughters race to piece together what happened in the last weeks of their mother's life, disturbing visions and bizarre behaviors start to take hold of everyone in the house, forcing them to realize they are being haunted by something far more sinister and vengeful than their regrets. After so many years of silence, will the families finally confront the painful truth behind the house's origins and the last, tragic summer they spent there--or will they cling to their secrets until it's too late?Told in dual timelines, spanning three generations, and brimming with romance, betrayal, ambition, and sacrifice, The Manor of Dreams is a thrilling family gothic that examines the true cost of the American Dream--and what happens when the roots we set down in this country turn to rot.PURCHASE BOOK HERE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781668051726?ic_referral=FjOJFVKIx8DgXVzwLCb-6feA_2H3aJ8PBNC05XRbpVQwM6vYeKHv16frMxxsyTmUTqvpt68MFhSw3NJbkpneVRi3XMr9qBzSYNY5kEyuR_FMGPnq9aCZ2EAtyW_wwBGWqBaunwChristina Li is the award-winning author of children's and young adult books Clues to the Universe, Ruby Lost and Found, and True Love and Other Impossible Odds, which have been selected as a Washington Post summer book club pick, one of the NPR and New York Public Library Best Books of the Year, and recognized for the Asian Pacific American Librarians' Award for Best Children's Literature. She graduated from Stanford University with degrees in Economics and Public Policy. She grew up in the Midwest and California, but now resides in New York. The Manor of Dreams is her adult literary debut.You can follow her on Instagram @ChristinaLiWrites, X @CLiWrites, and TikTok @CLiWrites. For more information, visit her website at ChristinaLiWrites.com.Li is in conversation with Martha Anne Toll. Toll recently published Duet for One, and her debut novel, Three Muses, was shortlisted for the Gotham Book Prize and won the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction. A book critic for NPR and The Washington Post, among others, Toll had a career in social justice after training as a classical viola player. She serves on PEN/Faulkner Foundation's board and lives in Washington, DC with her husband. They are the lucky parents of two adult daughters. Duet for One is Toll's second novel. *recorded 5/8/2025