Waste Tide

In Waste Tide, award-winning author Chen Qiufan presents a gripping vision of a near-future world ravaged by climate change, set on Silicon Isle—the world's largest electronic waste recycling center in southeastern China. As Mimi, a member of the island's lowest caste, strives to improve her family's life, power struggles ensue between Luo Jincheng, a clan leader, and Scott Brandle, a representative from an American corporation eyeing profits from the island's modernization. Amid this turmoil, Chen Kaizong, an interpreter seeking his heritage, grapples with the challenges of identity and belonging. The arrival of a dark virus catalyzes a conflict that pits the rich against the poor and forces a reckoning with the legacies of tradition in a rapidly evolving world.