A thrilling new story collection from acclaimed writer Don Lee exploring Asian American identity, spanning decades and continents.

"The Partition is flat-out brilliant: a witty, kaleidoscopic tear through questions of race and identity in America today by a writer who has wrought luminous fiction from these issues for years. Don Lee’s collection offers vivid, entertaining proof that ethnicity is never straightforward or easy—no matter who we are, or where we stand." (Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad)

"I'm a huge Don Lee fan. He's smart, wry, funny. There's also his humane view of humans, and the startling fairness with which he provides everyone's point of view. I admire the graceful way his stories unfold, as if their pleats are intrinsic, once we stop to notice desire's contradictions, and life's wrinkles." (Ann Beattie, author of A Wonderful Stroke of Luck)

Twenty-one years after the publication of his landmark debut collection Yellow, Don Lee returns to the short story form for his sixth book, The Partition.

The Partition is an updated exploration of Asian American identity, this time with characters who are presumptive model minorities in the arts, academia, and media. Spanning decades, these nine novelistic stories traverse an array of cities, from Tokyo to Boston, Honolulu to El Paso, touching upon transient encounters in local bars, restaurants, and hotels.

Culminating in a three-story cycle about a Hollywood actor, The Partition incisively examines heartbreak, identity, family, and relationships, the characters searching for answers to universal questions: Where do I belong? How can I find love? What defines an authentic self?