Tiger's Mouth: Lucy Tan in Conversation with Kim Fu

About this event

Preorder your copy of Tiger’s Mouth to be picked up at the event>>

Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum and Secret Garden Books are thrilled to celebrate the release of author Lucy Tan's new novel Tiger's Mouth , a powerful examination of privilege, friendship and social class. Lucy will be in conversation will fellow author and literary friend Kim Fu.

Jack Chen, the oldest son of caterers from Queens, is an expert at studying the rich from afar. When he finagles his way into a prestigious internship at tech giant K.O. Systems, he’s prepared to fake everything: his credentials, his confidence, even his past. What he isn’t prepared for is his officemate, Jack Owens, the depressed son of the company’s billionaire founder, who’s only there for a summer reprieve from his father’s scrutiny at the family vacation house.

Their connection is immediate, built on mutual admiration. Chen sees in Owens the advantages he’s been denied; Owens sees in Chen someone free of the pain he’s been taught to hide. Owens, Chen, and Chen’s girlfriend quickly become close friends, but by summer’s end the three can no longer outrun the lies they’ve told themselves and each other. As pressures build throughout the next few years, the two Jacks circle each other like opponents in their favorite board game, Go, each chasing the life the other was born into, from career to family to lovers. But the path to success and matters of the heart can test even the closest of friendships—and not all of them survive. Nostalgic, heart-wrenching, and propulsive, Tiger’s Mouth is a nuanced portrait of complex friendship, family dynamics, and love in its most unexpected forms.

Lucy Tan is the author of What We Were Promised , which was a Barnes and Noble Discover Pick, longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and named a best book of the year by The Washington Post . Tan holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was winner of the August Derleth Prize. A recipient of support from Kundiman and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, Tan has published in journals such as American Short Fiction, McSweeney’s, and Ploughshares . She currently lives and writes in Seattle, where she is also a bookseller at Secret Garden Books.

Kim Fu is the author of five books, including the 2026 novel The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts , a Belletrist Book Club pick, New York Times notable book, and Indigo bestseller. Fu’s story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century (2022) won the Washington State Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. It was also a finalist for the Giller Prize, the Ignyte Awards, the Shirley Jackson Awards, and the Saroyan International Prize. Stories in this collection have been selected for Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and Best of the Net , featured on Levar Burton Reads and Selected Shorts , and optioned for television and film. Fu lives in Seattle, Washington.