You Can't Stay Here Forever

"The Shady Husband Mystery is its own literary subgenre....Katherine Lin enters the canon with her debut novel....a subtle, character-driven story about interracial marriage...[and] opposites-attract friendship....Through memories, Lin skillfully reveals Ellie and Ian’s marriage of contrasts....Lin is deft and never overbearing in her handling of race..." – The New York Times Book Review

“Feel like taking a trip to Hotel du Cap in the south of France? Just open up Katherine Lin's new novel about female friendship, identity, ambition and love….[a] beautiful, atmospheric read.” — Good Morning America

"Don't miss this trip." — People, 'Our Must-Reads for Summer'

"A transportive debut." — Boston Globe

"An entertaining escape." — San Francisco Chronicle

“Lin’s sharp writing and perspectives on the Asian American experience in modern times, the shifting tides of marriages and the complexity of friendships that signals a captivating new voice on the literary scene.” — East Bay Express

“Lin’s debut is a heartwarming novel about self-discovery after loss, as she explores grief, deep disappointment, female relationships, and the Asian American perspective of living in a dominantly wealthy and privileged white society.” — Booklist

"A riveting debut with rich characterization, scenic setting, and sharp insights on relationships, class, and one Asian American woman’s experience." — Library Journal

"Lin's treatment of the glamorous, decadent setting, with its stream of gourmet meals and artisanal cocktails, is far from escapist . . . .she has complicated things to say about privilege and its intersection with race, ambition, and identity. A probing, astute portrayal of a fraught and late-blooming coming-of-age." — Kirkus Reviews
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Desperate to obliterate her past, a young widow flees California for the French Riviera in this compelling debut, a tale of loss, rebirth, modern friendship, and romance that blends Sally Rooney’s wryness and psychological insight with Emma Straub's gorgeous scene-setting and rich relationships.

Just days after her young, handsome husband dies in a car accident, Ellie Huang discovers that he had a mistress—one of her own colleagues at a prestigious San Francisco law firm. Acting on impulse—or is it grief? rage? Probably all three—Ellie cashes in Ian’s life insurance policy for an extended stay at the luxurious Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France. Accompanying her is her free-spirited best friend, Mable Chou.

Ellie hopes that the five-star resort on the French Riviera, with its stunning clientele and floral-scented cocktails, will be a heady escape from the real world. And at first it is. She and Mable meet an intriguing couple, Fauna and Robbie, and as their poolside chats roll into wine-soaked dinners, the four become increasingly intimate. But the sunlit getaway soon turns into a reckoning for Ellie, as long-simmering tensions and uncomfortable truths swirl to the surface.

Taking the reader from San Francisco to the gilded luxury of the south of France, You Can’t Stay Here Forever is a sharply funny and exciting debut that explores the slippery nature of marriage, the push and pull between friends, and the interplay of race and privilege, seen through the eyes of a young Asian American woman.