LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION Mixing business and family is a recipe for disaster 'A warm, moving multi-generational family saga, with a blackly comic streak that will make you snort your tea' Sam Baker, The Pool Bedtime Book Club The popular Beijing Duck House has been serving devoted regulars for decades. Yet behind the staff's professional smiles simmer tensions, heartaches and grudges from years of bustling restaurant life. When disaster strikes, two of the younger generation find themselves in a dangerous game that means tragedy for the Duck House. And soon, their families are forced to finally confront the conflicts and loyalties playing out beneath the red and gold lanterns.

"A warm, moving, multi-generational family saga, but with a blackly comic streak that will make you snort your tea" - Sam Baker, The Pool Bedtime Bookclub

"A freshly written, punchily flavoured and richly realised tale of intergenerational family strife" - Sunday Times

"Funny, tender and tragic, Number One Chinese Restaurant is a perfectly seasoned delectable dish of a debut" - Financial Times

"Powerful, sensual, often comical... unforgettable" - The Times

"A joy to read - I couldn't get enough" - Buzzfeed

"Hugely entertaining... full of grudges, intrigue and brilliantly complex characters" - ELLE

"Full of insight into immigrant families' lives... This is Li's debut yet she writes with a confidence that suggests decades of experience... an insightful and elegant novel, beautifully written and with an impressively large and diverse cast of characters" - Guardian

"Captivating... full of sensual imagery... colourful and unforced... a debut novel whose lessons can be savoured" - Irish Times

"A clever, compelling debut with lots of heart" - Irish Examiner

"Prose as peppery as the Szechuan lamb chops, and situations as sticky as the carpets" - Vogue

"Funny, brilliant and highly enjoyable" - ELLE, Books to Watch in 2019

"Beautifully depicts an all too relatable situation: being caught in a moment, unable to break out, and wishing for something bigger, better, always waiting for the singularity that will change our course." - The London Magazine

"This darkly comic multigenerational saga has a compelling energy that speeds along the pages and marks a delicious start to a writing career" - Daily Mail

"What a delicious read! I devoured it in one sitting, and half an hour later I could have read it all over again" - Saga Magazine

"With a cast of finely-drawn characters and admirably intricate plotting, Number One Chinese Restaurant is an intelligent read that becomes more absorbing with every page. A rich, satisfying debut from Lillian Li" - Culturefly

"Simultaneously heart-warming and humorous in its deep exploration of the lives of restaurant staff and families... beautifully captures the diverse nature of humanity" - CUB Magazine

"Skilfully created... a great story about ordinary folks living through peculiar and deeply troubling times" - New Books Magazine

"Packed with action and populated by an array of varied, complex characters, Number One Chinese Restaurant is an entertaining and insightful read" - Pendora Magazine

"An engaging tale of family (dis)loyalties... an absorbing novel" - The Writes of Women (blog)

"Incredible... heart-warming,,, delicious... I devoured it like my favourite Chinese meal" - The Last Word (blog)

"The writing flows around a story that offers sticky, dark humour... a story of family that is universal" - Never Imitate (blog)

"Lillian Li's brilliant debut... heartfelt and witty" - Foyles.co.uk

"A book full of heart, joy, sadness and delicious food, Number One Chinese Restaurant has all the ingredients for a heartwarming and introspective novel about family and sacrifice" - Vincent's Bookcase (blog)

"Though lightened with comedic moments, the quiet tragedy of familial resentment lies at the heart of the story. A smart combination of Chinese American life, service industry travails and the ups and downs of belonging to a family, Number One Chinese Restaurant will make great discussion fare for book clubs" - Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"Action-packed... a compelling family story about love, work and what it means to serve" - USA Today

"So expertly does first-time novelist Lillian Li conjure the Beijing Duck House, a gaudy, tatterdemalion restaurant in Rockville, Md., that readers of Number One Chinese Restaurant can almost taste its signature dish and feel the heat of its woks... By turns darkly funny and heartbreaking" - Wall Street Journal

"A singular achievement, by turns insightful, tragic, and hilarious. The Beijing Duck House, the family-owned restaurant at the center of this novel, might be a made-up place, but the people who keep it going are entirely and splendidly alive" - R.O. Kwon, author of 'The Incendiaries'

"A deliciously comic debut novel about secrets, scandal, and the patriotism at the heart of the hustle" - O, The Oprah Magazine, Top Books of the Summer

"Li humanizes cruelty. Where another would look away, she dives under a microscope, determined to see it clearly. The result is a wonderfully honest portrait of what it takes to make it in America" - Village Voice

"An enthralling plot line reminiscent of a prime time drama that you can't stop watching... we couldn't put it down" - Bon Appétit

"With its deliciously depicted restaurant setting and knowing perspective on Chinese-American culture, this novel is two-thirds cultural comedy. The other third is something deeper and sadder. A writer to watch" - Kirkus Reviews

"Li vividly depicts the lives of her characters... a memorable debut" - Publishers Weekly

"Lillian Li is a brilliant young writer and someone to watch. Her work understands human secrets generally as well as secret places both in the world and in the mind; her narratives are complex, mysterious, moving, and surprising" - Lorrie Moore

"A darkly comic novel about complicated families - those created by blood and those forged through circumstance. With wit and heart, Li explores a Chinese-American community torn between ambition and loyalty as each character strives for a world bigger than the restaurant that has bound them together. An exciting debut" - Brit Bennett

"Full of impassioned and ever-yearning characters, the prose sparkles, too... announcing a striking new literary talent" - Chang-rae Lee

"Li's talent for human tragicomedy grows more evident by the page... Li generously realizes the dreams, the regrets, and the resilience of a family holding on to its American dream, hoping it doesn't slip away" - Entertainment Weekly