A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing

By: Jessie Tu

Narrated by: Aileen Huynh

My father gave me all the relationship advice he thought I’d need: ‘Find someone who likes you more than you like them,’ and ‘Don’t be easy. Men don’t like easy girls.’ At the time I was 17 and sleeping with three different boys, none of whom knew about the others. My father knew nothing of them either.

Jena Chung plays the violin. She was once a child prodigy and now uses sex to fill the void left by fame. She's struggling a little. Her professional life comprises rehearsals, concerts, auditions and relentless practice; her personal life is spent managing the demands of her strict family and those of her creative friends, and hooking up. And then she meets Mark - much older and worldly wise - who consumes her. But at what cost to her dreams?

When Jena is awarded an internship with the New York Philharmonic, she thinks the life she has dreamed of is about to begin. But when Trump is elected, New York changes irrevocably, and Jena along with it. Is the dream over? As Jena’s life takes on echoes of Frances Ha, her favourite film, crucial truths are gradually revealed to her.

A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing explores female desire and the consequences of wanting too much and never getting it. It is about the awkwardness and pain of being human in an increasingly dislocated world - and how, in spite of all this, we still try to become the person we want to be. This is a dazzling, daring and original debut.

©2020 Jessie Tu (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"I absolutely inhaled this book. Gutsy, bold and surprising, with a darkness that draws you in and keeps you hanging onto every word." (Bri Lee, author of Eggshell Skull)

"This novel knocked me out." (Christos Tsiolkas, author of Damascus)

"A truly bold and audacious new voice." (Alice Pung, author of Laurinda)