The Privileged

A Novel

By: Wu Xiaole, Michael Berry - translator

Narrated by: Nancy Wu

What does having it all really mean? A heedlessly driven Taiwanese wife and mother finds out in a gripping and twisty novel about the dark games people play to succeed.

How far would you go to secure the best future for your child?

Chen Yunxian wants more from life than that of a noodle seller’s daughter. Instead, Chen Yunxian goes to college, marries her ambitious first love, Yang Dingguo, and has a bright young son, Peichen, for whom Chen Yunxian will do anything.

But as Yang Dingguo’s career falters and the family’s economic stability begins to shake, a golden opportunity arrives for Peichen. Yang Dingguo’s wealthy boss offers to pay Peichen’s tuition at the most exclusive private school in Taiwan. Chen Yunxian isn’t about to question it—only relish that through her son she has suddenly vaulted into the upper echelons of high society. It comes with fabulous new friends, invitations to the ritziest parties, and enviable, seemingly endless prospects for the future.

As everything Chen Yunxian wanted comes true, so does the alarming suspicion that she and her son are being swept up in something darker than Chen Yunxian agreed to—and that having it all can come with a frightening price.

©2018, 2025 by Mirror Fiction Inc. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2025 by Michael Berry.

Critic reviews

“This quietly disturbing parental nightmare succeeds on its own terms.”—Publishers Weekly

Itʻs Been Done

For context, I am a Taiwanese American with my bachelorʻs in English from one of the top ranked public universities in the US. Because of my cultural and academic background, I spent nearly a decade in Taipei as a private tutor for the elite and uber elite. I was eagerly awaiting for this book to drop, because it sounded like it would be a searing satire or social commentary on a world I was familiar with.

Unfortunately, this book really fell short of expectations. This isnʻt the first novel about parents who use their childrenʻs education as status symbols, and The Privileged doesnʻt actually introduce anything new. The main character is unlikeable but BORING, and the pacing drags, since the entire first part of the book is just exposition. Or, at least it feels that way, since the writing is all tell, no show.

I am also continuously baffled as to why people don't hire narrators who speak the same language as the characters. The narrator's Mandarin pronunciation is... not good. It isn't terrible, but it *is* consistently, noticeably wrong, There are about 1 BILLION native speakers of Mandarin on this planet, I'm sure they could have found one that is also a native English speaker and narrates audiobooks professionally.