Tomb Sweeping: Stories

A playful & deeply affective short story collection about the histories, technologies, & generational divides that shape our relationships--from the award-winning writer of Days of Distraction 

Compelling & perceptive, Tomb Sweeping probes the loyalties we hold: to relatives, to strangers, & to ourselves. In stories set across the US & Asia, Alexandra Chang immerses us in the lives of immigrant families, grocery store employees, expecting parents, & guileless lab assistants. 

A woman known only to her neighbors as "the Asian recycling lady" collects bottles from the streets she calls home. A young college grad ponders the void left from a broken friendship. An unfulfilled housewife in Shanghai finds a secret outlet for her ambitions in an undercover gambling den. Two strangers become something more through the bond of mistaken identity. 

These characters, adeptly attuned to the mystery of living, invite us to consider whether it is possible for anyone to entirely do right by another. Tomb Sweeping brims with remarkable skill & talent in every story, keeping a definitive pulse on loss, community, & what it means to feel fully alive. With her debut story collection, Chang further establishes herself as "a writer to watch" (New York Times Book Review).

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Alexandra Chang is the author of Days of Distraction. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, & her writing has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Guernica, & elsewhere.