Faber to publish Steph Cha’s UK debut Your House Will Pay

Faber & Faber is delighted to announce Steph Cha’s blistering UK debut, Your House Will Pay: a timely and unforgettable novel about the intertwined fates of two families. Editorial Director Angus Cargill acquired UK & Commonwealth rights excluding Canada from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein on behalf of Massie & McQuilkin . Faber will publish in January 2020.

Grace Park and Shawn Matthews share a city, Los Angeles, but seemingly little else, coming from different generations and very different communities.

As Grace battles with confusion over her elder sister’s estrangement from her Korean-immigrant parents, Shawn tries to help his cousin, Ray, readjust to civilian life after years spent in prison.

But what is it in their past that links these two families? As the city around them threatens to erupt into violence, echoing the worst days of the early 1990s, the lives of Grace and Shawn are set to collide in ways that will change them all for ever.

Beautifully written, and marked by its aching humanity as much as its growing sense of dread, Your House Will Pay is a powerful and urgent novel for today.

Steph Cha is a contributing book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Review of Books, and a regular panelist at crime and literary festivals. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two basset hounds.

Editorial Director Angus Cargill said: ‘I bought this novel on a partial some years ago, absolutely bowled over by the force and freshness of Steph’s writing and characterisation, and longing to know how things would play out for her two families, the Parks and the Matthews. The full ms she went on to deliver is extraordinary – a serious, socially conscious novel which is also a total page-turner. It’s been one of the most popular books in-house for a very long time, and it’s exciting to see the word now building out of house ahead of its publication. I think with this, her UK debut, Steph will land as a major voice in contemporary fiction.’

ADVANCE PRAISE:

‘Fresh, thoughtful, thrilling.’ Ian Rankin

‘Unique and totally gripping.’ Michael Connelly

‘A thrilling and nuanced look at race relations in Los Angeles that depicts family life, grief and inheritance with such humanity and complexity.’ Nikesh Shukla

‘Wow!!! If you haven’t read her, now’s the time to start.’ Abir Mukherjee

‘Your House Will Pay has got it all. This suspense-filled page-turner about murder, repentance, and forgiveness draws from the fraught history of Los Angeles . . . The novel would have been relevant thirty years ago. It will likely be relevant thirty years in the future.’ Viet Thanh Nguyen

‘A riveting thriller.’ Kirkus (Starred Review)

‘Steph Cha has taken a dark moment in Los Angeles’s violent history and cracked it wide open, creating a prism of understanding.’ Attica Locke, Edgar Award winning author of Bluebird, Bluebird

‘A sensitive portrait of racial tension, buried memory, and the difficulty of reconciliation.’ Laila Lalami, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Other Americans

‘Steph Cha fearlessly explores the duality of LA’s promise and betrayal, its vision of new beginnings and the brutal divisions that cut between race and class.’ Walter Mosley, Edgar-winning author of Down the River Unto the Sea

‘A crackling page-turner and a deeply felt work of eloquence, clarity, and devastating insight.’ Elizabeth Little, author of Dear Daughter

‘Moving, compelling, surprising, funny, explosive, and deeply human – an unforgettable novel.’ Lou Berney, author of November Road

‘A devastating exploration of grief, shame, and deeply buried truths, and the hope that endures when all else seems lost.’ Catherine Chung, author of The Tenth Muse

Photo credit: Maria Kanevskaya